Night Fire
by Litahatchee
Summary: 07-verse  AU : Ironhide x Chromia are reunited on Earth. As memories surface, they struggle with a horrendous price of war that changed their lives forever. Optimus, Ratchet, and Bumblebee cope with their own losses. Help isn't always from an expected source.
1. New Arrival

This is my first fanfic (but not my first writing venture). On Sept. 17, 2007, I was full of uncertainties about submitting it and worried about how this story would be received. On Sept. 25, 2008, I am astounded at the attention this has gotten. I am absolutely grateful for all the wonderful reviews I've received. On Nov. 9, 2009, I am simply blown away: one thousand five reviews, WHOAH! I'm speechless... I can never thank you all enough! To any new readers: I hope you enjoy this story too! Of course, if you decide it is not for you, I'm sure you'll find something else on fanfiction that fits your tastes. It is a wonderful site. Thanks again!

(posted Sept. 17, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I thank **P.A.W.07 **for her awesome "Promise Not to Tell" fic and **Hearts of Eternity **for her "What Time We Have Left." Those fics inspired me to go ahead and put this out there. I recommend these fics. They are absolutely awesome.

Thank you ALL so much for the inspiration!

**Bold print **is Cybertronian messaging.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 1

New Arrival

by Litahatchee

It had been several years since the battle at Mission City. Ironhide had settled in with the Lennox family and rather enjoyed his time with them, though he probably wouldn't admit that. What he did not enjoy, however, were the few occasions when the humans asked Will to bring Ironhide into his work.

Ironhide drove Will to the army base every day, but he did not like going down into the underground facility, preferring, instead, to remain in the parking lot in his alt mode. However, as soon as the humans processed what they learned from the last questions they had asked Ironhide, they would ask Will to bring him in for more. Will was the liaison for the humans and Optimus chose Ironhide to be the liaison for the Autobots. Will always thought that was strange, since Ironhide was the most unapproachable of the four, but he suspected that that was what the Autobot leader wanted.

Ironhide drove along, lost in his thoughts, dreading having to deal with these military humans again. They had another line of questioning for him that day, but he just couldn't keep focused on it. There was a protoform coming to Earth, but it did not give any designation other than that it was an Autobot. Optimus had instructed Ironhide not to tell the humans, even though he knew the order was unnecessary, as Ironhide would not have revealed that information anyway.

Bumblebee was sent out to intercept the newcomer, but something was nagging at Ironhide and he really felt like he ought to be the one to go. What if it was a Decepticon using an Autobot signal? The little bot wouldn't be able to handle it alone. He tried to use that argument with Optimus, but he couldn't keep the argument going. Ironhide knew, in his spark, that it just wasn't the case. The newcomer was definitely an Autobot, so Bumblebee was in no danger. He didn't know how and why he knew it with such certainty, but he knew. He couldn't come up with a better excuse of why he should be the one to go, so Bumblebee was assigned to go and Ironhide was to continue his duties as liaison.

A distant tug at his spark had him nearly jumping out of his truck form. Is that what he thought it was? He tentatively reached back and the excitement was unmistakable. Now, more than ever, he understood why he needed to be the one to greet the new arrival. He didn't believe it, couldn't allow himself to believe it. He had to see with his own optics.

Without hesitation, Ironhide sent a message to Bumblebee, via the link in their bond, "**Bumblebee, I'm taking this mission. Go back to base and tell Optimus that I'll be along shortly with the new arrival." **Bumblebee began to protest and Ironhide interrupted him, sending in that tone that didn't allow any room for questioning, **"DO IT!!"**

The protoform was getting closer. Ironhide could actually feel it in his spark. Something he hadn't felt in a long, long time… He veered off track to chase after it.

"Ironhide?!" Lennox yelped at the Topkick's sudden change in course. "What are you doing? We're supposed to…" another yelp as Ironhide sped up and hit a bump in the road, causing Will to bounce in his seat.

"You're going to have to tell them to postpone it," Ironhide said in response.

Ironhide wasn't going to ignore the sensation. He couldn't ignore it. It meant his everything. He sped up until he was going faster than Lennox had ever experienced him going.

"Ironhide, what is it?" Will asked worriedly. He got no response.

Seeing that the meeting was involuntarily going to be postponed, he got out his cell phone to let his commanders know what was going on. As he did so, Ironhide ran over a huge pothole that had Lennox bouncing high in the air and hitting his head on the ceiling of the truck, despite the snugness of his seat belt. His phone flew from his hands and bounced right out of the window.

"Great," Will muttered to himself, before continuing, "Ironhide, slow down!"

Will tried to sound commanding, but Ironhide did not slow down. He rarely listened to Will, anyway. If anything, Lennox thought he might be speeding up.

_**WWWWHHHHOOOOOSSSSHHHH!! **_

A meteor flashed overhead, so close that Will thought it might hit them. Ironhide drove faster and faster until the entire truck was shuddering from the stress of it.

"Is that a proto..?" Will started before it hit with a loud crash, flashing so brightly that he had to cover his eyes.

Soon, Ironhide was upon it, and Will barely managed to get out of the truck before it started to transform. Will looked around to make sure no one was around. Ironhide didn't seem worried that he had just transformed in broad daylight.

Ironhide approached the protoform cautiously, his chest feeling as if it was on fire.

Will watched in amazement as Ironhide's chest seemed to be glowing. There were clicks and whirring noises as the meteor transformed into a mech a little smaller than Ironhide, but just as fierce looking, and maybe a little scarier.

_'Great, a Decepticon,'_ Will thought, '_and I don't have any way to call for backup.'_

Ironhide just stopped and stared, nothing being said between the two mechs. Then, Will watched in horror as the new arrival produced a cannon from its shoulder, and opened fire on Ironhide.

Ironhide leapt to the left of the first volley and then expertly flipped forward over the second. The other mech was closing the distance between the two as it fired, but to Will's surprise, Ironhide wasn't returning the fire. He didn't even get out his cannons. Then the mech was upon him, looking quite furious to Will, but Ironhide stood his ground. He ducked and dodged as hand to hand combat ensued. He blocked a punch here, dodged a kick there, but he never returned the attack. Suddenly, the other mech produced a smaller weapon on its arm and shot Ironhide in his left leg.

Ironhide staggered back, the shock on his face evident, even to Will. He opened his mouth to say something, but was promptly shot again, in the same leg, at the same spot. He went down with a snarl and the other mech jumped on his chest, pinning his right arm down.

It was obvious to Will that Ironhide was loosing this fight, but Will didn't know what to do. All he could do was stand there as the other mech reached with its left arm behind Ironhide's neck. Something snaked out of its hand and made a connection there. Ironhide growled, or at least Will thought it was a growl. As this was happening, the mech's right hand was pushing at something on Ironhide's chest. Ironhide was using his free left hand to slap it away furiously, grabbing it, and pushing it away several times before it finally touched something and his chest sprung open.

A brilliant blue light illuminated the other mech and an arc of lightning flew between the two, so brightly that Will had to turn away from it AND cover his eyes.

Ironhide reached his free hand to the back of the neck of the mech with the advantage and made his own connection there. It also growled, but it sounded rather more like a growl of enjoyment than one out of anger.

They both broke their interface connection when, suddenly, Ironhide yelled, "We are not alone!"

The other mech turned to look at Will and he involuntarily took a few steps back. It jumped off of Ironhide, who scooted away from it quickly. As he did so, Will saw the boiling, burning, ball of ice blue fire that was his spark. Will knew the spark was their life's essence, but he had never seen one before. It was… breathtaking. He realized, as he watched the reactions between these two, that he wanted to know more about it.

Ironhide saw Will staring at his spark, so he quickly closed his chassis, pulling himself painfully to his feet. He wouldn't be able to walk right until Ratchet welded this new wound shut. He glared at the other mech.

"What are you doing?!" he all but bellowed.

"I just wanted to find out what's going on!" she(?) yelled back.

When the other mech spoke, understanding began to dawn on Will. The voice was decidedly more feminine and he became curious about whether or not Cybertronians had females and what that whole spark business might mean. The scientists would be interested as well. He had the feeling Ironhide wouldn't be willing to speak on it, but he would ask anyway. He knew not to push Ironhide, though. He really liked the black mech and would never do anything to compromise their friendship; not intentionally, anyway.

Ironhide noted that she was speaking English, so she obviously absorbed the information he transmitted to her through their interface connection.

"All you had to do was ask," he said while rubbing his neck. "You didn't have to go tapping me."

"Oh, 'tap' is such a harsh accusation," she snapped at him.

"And what were you doing with my spark casing?!" he growled angrily. "That's a little more than interfacing, don't you think?"

She smiled wildly and playfully took a step towards him. As she did so, another arc of lightning passed between them and they both gasped and clutched their chests in unison.

Ironhide's left cannon finally rolled out of his arm and he pointed it at her, saying, "Stay away from me."

The two stared at each other for long moments and Will noticed Ironhide's features beginning to soften. Suddenly, as if he forgot something, his features hardened again and then, "And why were you shooting at me?!" He inspected the wound in his leg, "You SHOT me!"

Now it was her turn to raise her cannons and she yelled, "Don't you ever leave me again!"

Ironhide lowered his cannon and closed the distance between them, grasping the hand on her armed cannon arm, saying, softly, "I wouldn't think it."

Little arcs of lightning dancing between them as their sparks called to each other, wanting to be joined. She grasped his other hand and started to move closer.

"Don't come any closer," Ironhide warned softly. "I don't think I can control it."

Another wicked grin spread across her features as she responded, "I thought not."

She reached out to lightly slide a finger across his chest plate, it easily falling open again.

"Gah! Slag it, Chromia!" Ironhide stepped back from her, nearly tripping over his injured leg.

It was all he could do not to pull her to him. He was shaking from the effort, his spark clearly needing to join in order to finally feel whole again. She laughed, the sound of it singing though his systems. It had been so long… nearly 10,000 vorns. He almost still couldn't believe she was standing right there. All this time, he didn't even know if she was even still alive.

Ironhide became aware of Lennox's gaping mouth and quickly closed his armor again. Oh, she was going to pay for this later, he thought.

Completely fascinated by what he was witnessing before him, Will closed and then opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. The female mech, Chromia, Ironhide called her, looked at him as if seeing him for the first time.

"This?" she asked, "is a human?"

"Yes," Ironhide stated irritably. "This is Major William Lennox. Didn't you get any of the other stuff I sent you?" He was speaking of the information he uploaded into her CPU during their brief interface. "...besides the language? The battle? They helped us."

"Yes, yes," she waved a hand dismissively. "It's just that I thought they were bigger."

She knelt down for a closer look and Will felt a tiny bit conspicuous, practically blushing from her gaze.

"Hello Major William Lennox," she said to him. "I'm Chromia. I'm Ironhide's sparkmate."

Will had no idea what that meant, but he could take a guess.

"Don't crowd him," Ironhide grumbled.

"Such a bundle of good cheer, isn't he?" she stated to Will, who stifled a laugh as she stood up. "I like the language," she continued absently. "I like the way it sounds in my processors." She looked at Ironhide. "And I really like this armor," she said silkily as she moved to touch him again.

Wide arcs of energy sparked between them, again, and both of their chests were glowing now, even though they weren't that close. Ironhide put a little more distance between them.

"Wow," she exclaimed in fascination. "It's inevitable."

As fascinated by the reaction of their sparks as he was too, he really wanted to get Lennox's gaping jaws out of there so that they can find someplace private and get this over with. Not that he felt like it was a chore. Oh, yes, he wanted it, but he sure didn't like to have an audience, especially an organic one, which was what they were going to have if he didn't put some distance between he and his femme. He was on the verge of losing control.

Their sparks were going to unite, whenever, however, whether they could control them or not.

8888


	2. Electrocution

(posted Oct. 5, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 1: **Karategal, Truth of Barricade, theshadowcat, atomic auna, lady tecuma, mutated glow worm, MadameSoybean, ferretsareillegal, grlwdgrntrk **(for two reviews)**, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, ArmoredSoul, akire, Bryan, Kerry, Transflashbacks, flamingmarsh, sista, Xerios, Lecidre, Freakish Child, KB, blood-tempest, Bunnylass, SOnicHerO100, Cr4ZyFr0G100 from dA, Iluvbee1990, Shizuka Taiyou, Hearts of Eternity, **and **manepigen**. I had no idea reviews would be so satisfying. I can't wait to see what the next reviews will be. (As a new reviewer comes, I will add your name to the thank you. If you have the urge, feel free to review even if it has been years since posting! There's no such thing as a late review *smile*). Thanks again!

Thanks so much for adding this story to:

**[Favorite Story]**: **Misao-CG, StormSailor **

**[Story Alert]**: **ninergrl, theshadowcat, ryuu-artist, atomic luna, Prairiefire, StormSailor, ****libra4eva, mutated glow worm**

**[Author Alert]**: **StormSailor**

You guys are awesome (smile).

**CREDITS:** Eternal thanks to **Hearts of Eternity **for letting me use her idea on sparkmates and the spark-bond between them that would result in death if one dies: from her amazing story **'What Time We Have Left.'**

The bolded stuff is Ironhide and Chromia communicating in Cybertronian via their bond. I suppose one could compare it to text messaging (for lack of a better explanation), only imagine if you can hear the other person's voice that you are messaging.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 2

Electrocution

by Litahatchee

Will watched, through Ironhide's review mirror, the metallic light blue Jeep Liberty following them; at a distance, he noted. He remembered a conversation he had had awhile back about something Ironhide was waiting for, something he had been hoping for.

"So, is this what you've been waiting for?" Will asked tentatively. Ironhide was in one of his moods and Will was having a hard time getting him to talk with him.

"Yes," Ironhide replied tersely.

"…and the mech is a femme?" Will asked again.

Ironhide was beginning to wonder if there was a wire loose in the human's head, or whatever the equivalent was to an organic. He'd just told Will that Chromia was a femme a moment ago.

"…and her name is Chromia?"

"Yes," definitely a wire loose somewhere, Ironhide concluded.

Will was thoroughly confused by this point. So, this femme was a transformer, but not considered a female, according to Ironhide, yet she was called a "she," even by him, and was somehow different than him.

"Is she your wife?" Will finally asked a new question.

"No," Ironhide stated without any further explanation.

Will let out a sigh of exasperation. Well, Ironhide was being as vague as ever.

"What is her relationship to you again?" Will asked.

"She is my bonded. We are sparkmates," Ironhide answered irritably.

"Oh, okay, so…she's your wife."

Was there an echo in here? "No, Will, she is not my wife!"

"Is she not your wife because she isn't female or… ?"

"She isn't female in the human sense. She isn't different from me except that she could create life. She is not my wife, she is my sparkmate." Ironhide hoped that was enough to satisfy him.

"So… she's like the AllSpark?" Will asked, remembering that the AllSpark could create life too.

Ironhide resisted the urge to eject Will out the door. "Absolutely not!" he all but yelled.

Will decided he would find a more "willing" mech to ask what all of this means. Ironhide was definitely not cooperating; cooperating, in fact, about as much as he did when the military was questioning him on his cannons, among other things. He was usually much more talkative with Will, though.

Will would talk with Ratchet. Ratchet always seemed willing to talk. He hadn't spoken with him much, but Ratchet was definitely approachable. He thought again about Optimus's choice in Ironhide as the Transformer Liaison. Optimus knew Ironhide would tell them virtually nothing. Will could see Optimus's humor coming out in it as well. Will was sure the Autobot leader was quite amused with the situation, probably on more levels than one.

Will also understood that Optimus was probably protecting his fellow mechs. The humans could hurt them and that whole thing with Bumblebee really upset him. Will cringed as he remembered seeing poor Bumblebee bound to that table. Perhaps if the Bumblebee incident hadn't happened, it would be Ratchet acting as the Transformer Liaison. Poor Bumblebee, perhaps it was for the better. Optimus learned to be cautious with the humans early on. Will knew his people would take full advantage of them however they could. He was already getting pressure to press them for more, but he was choosing to ignore it, finding ways to distract his superiors.

888

It wasn't that Ironhide didn't want to explain things to Will. Will was the only human he actually trusted. He was just… distracted at the moment. She was not his wife, oh, no, no. She was much more than that. They did not part in death. They were bonded for FOREVER.

When a mech became bonded to another, he was no longer whole. In fact, each one of their very lives depended on the survival of the other. If one died, the other soon followed. They also needed to remain together. When separated over great distances and time, they would not be able to join and would soon start deteriorating.

Ironhide and Chromia were separated because the AllSpark was more important than the two of them. Optimus had long regretted the decision of separation, but if one died on the mission, then he'd lose both, and that was just not acceptable with the small numbers they already had. They all understood and they all agreed. Separation was necessary and hopefully temporary.

The pain… the pain started about 5,000 years before. It started out small. Ratchet was very concerned about him. There was little he could do, so he worked diligently on Ironhide's bad hip, erratic pump, and other aches and pains in order to make the mech at least that much more comfortable. Ratchet had figured, then, that he could survive without Chromia for another five or so thousand years.

As that time passed, Ironhide's health became worse and worse, but he never let on. Ironhide was beginning to fear the worst, that perhaps Chromia had not survived. They had had no communication with anybody since the search for the AllSpark began and the distance between he and his sparkmate was so great that they could not feel each other through their bond.

The only other member of the team with a bonded was Optimus, but his spark was stronger than Ironhide's. He was also in better health to begin with. Ratchet figured Optimus could live another 15,000 or 20,000 years without his Elita.

Optimus knew Ironhide was suffering, but he had no idea how far he had been slipping. Ironhide suspected that there was another matter that kept Optimus going so strong, but he kept that to himself. If he were to die, that knowledge would die with him.

Ironhide was watching the metallic light blue Jeep Liberty behind him. No, he wouldn't be dying anytime soon. But then, he was afraid she might be a mirage, ready to fade away at any moment. Before, he didn't believe his spark, now he wasn't believing his optics, so he kept reaching out to her through their bond...

**"Yes, it's me," **she sent him. **"I'm right here, you don't have to keep checking."**

Chromia felt Ironhide brushing her through their spark bond. She shuddered. It was tantalizing. She had already sent him several messages, via their bond AND through their comm. systems, trying to reassure him.

_'If he does it again, I'm going to ram him,' _she thought to herself. It didn't take him long…She felt his touch again... _'Oh, that's it!' _She sped up.

Ironhide saw Chromia getting larger in his rearview mirror. He sped up himself just as she was about to hit him. She painfully bumped into him, but not as hard as she intended. The result, however, was just as satisfying, as she saw an arc of lightning pass from her frame over his. He shuddered visibly.

Ironhide tried to prevent the electric shock from passing through his cab, but since his spark was closest to the cab than anything else, he was unsuccessful.

Will started jumping and yelling as if the cab were suddenly full of rattlesnakes! The console was now covered in little arcs of lightning, jolts of electricity shooting through his butt as he tried to stand up off of the seat. This didn't help him AT ALL, because as soon as his feet hit the floor, several waves of jolts ran through his feet and up his legs. He grabbed the wheel and tried to pull himself up and, hopefully, get his, now painfully tingling, legs off the floor when a very large electric shock traveled from his fingers up his arms.

"Ah! OWWW! Ironhide? What the hell…Argh!" Will screeched.

Unable to get away from the jolting, Will started kicking and screaming, his kicks landing their mark in Ironhide's cab that now had Ironhide painfully yelling. Ironhide sped up, cursing her under his breath.

**"Primus, Chromia!"** he yelled. **"You're going to make me electrocute my human!"**

She slowed, allowing more distance between them.

"Pull over! Pull over!" Will was screaming at Ironhide and he did so. Will couldn't jump out fast enough, nearly falling on his face as he found himself wobbly on his electrocuted legs. "Gah, what the fuck was that?" he yelled, but Ironhide said nothing at all. He was feeling quite awful and really didn't know what he could say.

Will ran around in tiny circles, brushing off his arms as if they were covered with dirt. Knowing that attacking the tires would be useless; they were a part of the armor, after all, and, besides, if they were sensitive at all, the mech wouldn't be able to drive over rough pavement; Will ran over to Ironhide's back left fender and swiftly kicked the large dent that Chromia caused when she shot him.

"Owww!" Ironhide yelled, much to Will's satisfaction and then Will turned to Chromia.

**"What is he doing?"** She asked. **"That is very strange."**

The human was holding his middle fingers up in the air at her and making fists while thrusting out his arm and smacking his elbow.

**"Humans use expressions when they feel helpless," **Ironhide explained to her.

**"Well, he is helpless. Look at him. He doesn't even have armor. It's amazing he can even walk around without fear of death on a planet full of things that can easily kill him. Why Optimus would destroy the AllSpark for these humans is beyond me," **she retorted.

That's exactly the way he felt, at first. He smiled inwardly. She hadn't changed a bit, a femme after his own spark. He did bond with her, after all.

**"He grows on you," **Ironhide admitted fondly as he watched Will jump around, mumbling something to the effect of, 'Ironhide's fucking wife that isn't his wife. She's not my wife, Will. She's my fucking sparkmate and her sparks are gonna fuck you up!'

**"Yea, I see that**,**"** she replied. **"He's like a parasite, using your armor for his protection while you drive him up to speeds that would otherwise kill him**.**"**

Ironhide smiled inwardly again, between his human and his femme, life on Earth was about to get more interesting. When Will calmed down, he opened his door.

"Oh, no way, I'm fucking walking home." Will turned and started walking. Ironhide rode beside him, urging him to just get in the truck.

"Come on, Will. It'll take hours to get home at this pace. Just get in." Will kept walking, so Ironhide continued, "Well, okay. You know, you have other options." Will stopped, interested in what his proposal could possibly be. "You could always ride with _her_," and with that, Chromia's door opened.

"You've got to be shitting me... NO!" He jumped back in Ironhide's cab and closed the door.

888

They rode along in silence and Ironhide looked to see if she was still there, again. He became uncertain, afraid the mirage would disappear at any moment. He reached out to her again...

"Stop doing that," her voice cut through the cab, Will nearly jumping out this time.

"Ironhide, I'm going to have a nervous breakdown," he said. "Whatever it is that you are doing, please, for sanity's sake, please stop."

Though the sound of her voice was really comforting to him, Ironhide sent her, **"Do not talk to** **me through my cab. You are making Will nervous."**

**"I'm making him nervous?" **She replied.** "You're the one with all the electricity."**

**"What? Only because you won't keep your distance!" **He was incredulous.

**"Only because you keep reaching out to me, Hide! It's driving me crazy. I swear my spark can't take much more."**

Silence…

A little time passed before Ironhide reached out again, but, this time, Chromia reached back. When he felt her touch, a heat wave passed through him that had him running off the road. Will grabbed the wheel and pulled them back onto the road. Will was beginning the think that it might have been best if this Chromia had turned out to be a Decepticon. It seemed that the end result would be the same either way; he was surely going to end up dead. At least, with a Decepticon, he had a fighting chance.

"Just, please… get me home safe," Will stated out loud, but not necessarily to Ironhide. "And why is it so hot in here? Did you turn the heater on?" Ironhide quickly rolled down his windows and turned the air on full blast.

**"Okay,"** he sent to her. **"I get it, just…"** he hesitated. **"Just please don't disappear.'**

Chromia was silent. Ironhide very rarely voiced his fears. She really didn't know what else to do to reassure him, short of joining with him, which would no doubt mean disastrous results for the organic he was so fond of. She thought about that last part for a second. Ironhide, fond of an organic? He was getting soft in his old age. Chromia took to changing her form.

Will noticed the Jeep Liberty was gone and now a Toyota 4runner was behind them.

"Um, Ironhide?" Will said. "I think you lost her." Ironhide thought Will sounded a bit relieved.

"No," Ironhide replied, "She's still there." And then, "That's her."

Will looked again and realized the vehicle was the same metallic light blue as the other. He shook his head. This was getting weirder and weirder. He looked in the rear-view mirror again and saw a metallic light blue mini van. He laughed in spite of himself. She remained that form for awhile and then became a Ford Explorer.

Unbeknown to Will, Ironhide was watching her too. She was expending an awful amount of energy doing that. He thought back to their younger vorns and the energy that attracted him to her in the first place. She was tireless. Smiling to himself, he reached out to her again, this time sending her a suggestion of what he would do to wear her out later.

888

A metallic light blue Cadillac Escalade ran completely off the road, disappearing down the ditch, and running up on the other side into oncoming traffic. Ironhide laughed. Will was dumbfounded by the sound; Ironhide, LAUGHED. It was a hearty, good natured, laugh of a sort that Will had never heard from the mech.

Will looked back to see that the Escalade, now a Dodge Nitro, had run onto the other side of the road and was expertly dodging traffic and making its way back into the ditch and back onto their side of the road. It began speeding towards them.

Will sure didn't want to get shocked again and started yelling, "She's coming. GO! GO! GO!"

Laughing again, Ironhide tore out of there as fast as he could.

8888


	3. Scared to Death

(posted Oct. 13, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to my **REVIEWERS** of chapter 2: **Karategal, Frog1, Truth of Barricade, theshadowcat, Cassiopeia1979, atomic luna, XxYourXxDisasterXx, MadameSoybean, lady tecuma, ferretsareillegal, ArmoredSoul, grlwdgrntrk, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, flamingmarsh, Xerios, Lecidre, Freakish Child, KB, TransFlashbacks, blood-tempest, ****Bunnylass, Cr4ZyFr0G100 from dA, Iluvbee1990, KyuubiSango, Sista, Shizuka Taiyou, Hearts of Eternity, **and **manepigen****.** I'm loving you guys!

Thanks so much for adding this story to:

**[Favorite Story]: sonofwolf**

**[Story Alert]: Blazewing, Umi Mikazuki, sonofwolf**

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You all make my day!

_Italics_ print is a flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 3

Scared to Death

by Litahatchee

It was well after dark when they finally got back to Will's house. He jumped out of the truck and quickly ran around to the left side and kicked it again.

"Hey!" Ironhide protested. "I thought we were even."

"Even? After all that? I doubt we'll ever be even," Will stated.

Before Ironhide could say anything else, Will kicked the truck again and hurried towards the house.

"Owww!!"

Will heard Ironhide mumbling something about 'Pit-slagg'in human' as he strode victoriously into his home. Will looked around, quietly, for a second, gracious he wasn't the victim of an accidental death, courtesy of his resident alien. Seems that was a reoccurring issue.

Will was very lucky to be living in this house. He came from a long line of military service. His father had been in Intelligence and his grandfather had fought in WWII. When his grandfather retired, he built this house. His father and family lived there almost through the entirety of his father's career. Working in Intelligence had some perks. The family could remain stable while he traveled in his job.

Will and Sarah had been a fairly normal military couple, living on government installations, moving every two to four years, until the Autobots came into their lives. Now, Will had a special project in Intelligence that had mostly to do with Ironhide.

When Will was given the assignment, he thought about a special underground installation near his childhood home. He presented a proposal for any and all research to be done on the Autobots there, because it was the only underground secret installation large enough for them to transform in. The proposal passed and he got the best of both worlds because, not only did they have a great facility to study the Autobots, he and his family could live in the house his grandfather built.

It was also a fantastic place for Ironhide to stay. They had five acres of land, with several groves of trees that he could stretch out in without being seen, and a barn big enough for him to get out of the elements. He couldn't get in the garage; that Topkick was just way too big.

The kids were already in bed and Sarah was in the laundry room. She started when Will walked in, "Will, you scared me half to death. Where have you been? Colonel Lagier has been trying to get in touch with you. He said you weren't answering your cell phone…"

"Well, let me tell you about that…" he started before she cut him off.

"…and Optimus called…" she continued.

"Optimus?! He usually just…" he tried before getting cut off again.

"Optimus! What am I supposed to say to him? We've barely ever spoken. I've only seen him once and I'm stammering on the phone like I'm some sort of idiot, not able to answer any of his questions and he was being all patient with me as if I might come up with something….and his voice…Have you ever really listened to his voice? It's just so…soothing," Sarah rambled on before Will asked her.

"What did he want?"

"Oh! He's looking for Ironhide. He said Ironhide wasn't answering his calls and that he tried to reach him through their bond and something about Bumblebee returning without the new arrival and saying that Ironhide took it upon himself to go… I didn't even know what he was saying. What in God's name is a bond?... and what's that about a new arrival? Does he mean another one of them?"

Well, now Will was just confused. Ironhide said this femme was his bonded mate and now it seemed he was bonded to Optimus as well? There was still just so much he didn't understand about them.

Will then told her all about his day, how it started out on their way to the installation and then Ironhide flipping out and recklessly driving through the desert, making him lose his phone. He told her that the new arrival was, indeed, another Cybertronian and that it scared him to death when it seemingly defeated Ironhide, who only half-heartedly defended himself. Then, it turned out to be the female version of their race, though Ironhide assured him _she _wasn't a female, but a femme, and that this femme was "bonded" to him, but not his wife. He then related to her the ride home and Ironhide acting odd and the femme somehow causing all this electricity to surge through him and how it shocked the hell out of him. He even had burns to prove it!

"She's very scary. She's as scary looking as Ironhide." Will continued, "but I promise, you won't faint when you see her." A mocking grin crossed his face as he remembered the first time she saw Ironhide.

"Oh, very funny," she replied sarcastically. Unfortunately, she would never live that down.

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_Will was parking that big-ass truck he said was 'government-issue' out in the barn again. He was out there a long time and dinner was getting cold and Annie had been cranky all day. Sarah had started out to the barn to retrieve Will, when she heard voices. As she got closer, she could see through the open door of the barn that Will was talking to the truck. _

"_Oh, he's finally lost it," she thought as she got even closer._

_Then, something crazy happened... _

_That big-ass government-issue truck started changing and moving and reforming itself until a gigantic, bipedal, humanoid, robot-looking being was looming over Will! Will just sat there, and continued talking to it as if nothing unusual just transpired before his very eyes. Then, as if the truck being "alive" wasn't strange enough, it started talking to Will, in English! It was a rough, baritone, male's voice that sounded irritated. _

_She stopped dead in her tracks, her sudden movement catching their attention. Will jumped straight up in the air, as if he had just been bitten. The giant robot turned its head towards her, looking positively fierce, and staring at her with intense, glowing, bright blue, eyes. Suddenly, her head felt flush, her eyes started blacking, and her knees gave out. _

_Will rushed to grab his fainting wife. She was a strong woman and could take virtually anything. She had never fainted before in her life. _

'_Well, this was a good reason,' he thought to himself as he remembered his horror upon first seeing that helicopter at Soccent. 'At least he isn't going to start killing us.'_

_Ironhide looked on in horror. Primus, what had he just done? He knew these humans were fragile, but he had no idea they were __**this**__ fragile. He had to be more careful. He wondered why this hadn't happened to more of them at Mission City. He watched Will lower her to the ground and then rub her hands. _

"_Primus, Will, I'm sorry…" he started and Will told him it was okay. _

_Ironhide watched a little longer, uncertain, as he thought humans had more emotion than this when they were sorrowing. Unable to keep quiet, he said, "You're… taking this very well."_

"_What?" Will asked, looking up at Ironhide. _

_The expression on Ironhide's face was priceless; he looked positively guilty and mortified at what he had just done, as if he had just crushed Sam's dog for its annoyance and then felt bad for killing it. Understanding dawned on Will._

"_She's not __**dead**__, Ironhide, she only fainted," Will laughed at the misunderstanding. _

"_Fainted?" That sounded worse than death and Ironhide's expression turned into one of pure concern and sadness for what he'd done to his human friend's bonded._

"_She's fine, Ironhide. You just scared her, that's all," Will assured him._

"_I am fearful that I scared her to death," Ironhide said worriedly._

_Will laughed again as he rubbed some water on her face from the water hose. His alien resident actually thought he had killed his wife. _

_She soon came around and Ironhide forced air out of his vents in a sigh of relief. Water must possess a healing quality that he didn't know about. He saved the new knowledge in his memory so he could remember it if the need ever arose again. _

_After that incident, Sarah had been sworn to secrecy. _

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"Oh, he's not really that bad looking when you get used to him," Sarah said as she came back to the present. "He's just…not very happy."

"You don't think Ironhide's happy?" Will had thought this on several occasions, but he didn't know it was evident to her as well.

Ironhide often spoke of Cybertron. It was a sad story, really. They had been in a civil war for hundreds of thousands of years, decimating their planet, and then destroying themselves until there were so few left that the scattered remnants couldn't even find each other in the vast universe, or actually multiverse, as he had learned from Optimus Prime. For all they knew, they were all that was left. Then, they sacrificed the one thing that could truly save them, in order to save Earth. They had lost everything. If he ever had to endure even a tiny amount of what they'd been through, Will, personally, would rather be dead.

"I've never thought he was very happy. He likes us and he really likes the kids..." Sarah continued. There was something special to Ironhide about the kids that she didn't quite understand yet, "...but I think that if it were up to him, they'd have gone a long time ago, even if they don't have anywhere to go."

They both stood in silence for a few moments.

"He laughed at the female today, or femme, or whatever 'she' is," Will spoke up.

"He laughs. I've heard him laughing at the kids," Sarah replied.

"No, I mean he _really _laughed. I've never heard him laugh like that before," Will continued.

Sarah thought about it and said, "Maybe this 'femme' will bring him some joy. That would be nice."

"Hn," Will grunted. It was a sad story, and he really did want Ironhide to be happy, but he wasn't so sure about what the new arrival might bring. "If we're lucky enough to survive it."

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	4. Night Fire

(posted Oct. 15, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to all my wonderful **REVIEWERS** of chapter 3: **Duvet, Karategal, theshadowcat, MadameSoybean, lady tecuma, ferretsareillegal, ArmoredSoul, grlwdgrntrk, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, TransFlashbacks, Xerios, Lecidre, Freakish Child, Kb, blood-tempest, ****Bunnylass, Cr4ZyFr0G100 from dA, Iluvbee1990, Sista, **and **Shizuka Taiyou****. **You people are awesome!

**P.A.W.07's** awesome **"Promise Not to Tell" **fic and **Hearts of Eternity's** **"What Time We Have Left" **gave me the confidence I needed for this chapter. The Ironhide/Chromia chapters in Hearts's "Time" are awesome representations of what it must have been like for them to leave each other.

Okay, folks, remember the mature rating. This is why.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 4

Night Fire

by Litahatchee

Will decided he'd better go tell Ironhide that Optimus was trying to get in touch with him. He did not want to face the femme, though, so he peeked out the window to see if she was there. Ironhide had had a good head start on her after she ran off the road, but Will figured she had had plenty of time to get there by then. He didn't see the…What kind of vehicle had she been that last time? Well, she could be something else by now anyway, he thought, so he just looked for any other vehicle that might be in their yard, or their driveway, or…

"Looking for ghosts?" his wife's voice said sneakily from directly behind him. Will's heart leaped to his throat as he jumped and turned around to face her, his hand going up to clutch his chest. She laughed playfully.

"Sarah! You scared the shit out of me!" he whispered excitedly and started laughing as well.

Sarah peeked out of the window with him and said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're avoiding the new one."

"What, like you avoid Ironhide?" he retorted.

"I do not avoid Ironhide," she protested.

"Oh, yes you do." Will laughed. "He says you tiptoe around the house and peek out the windows at him when I'm not here. He goes to the barn just so you'll feel comfortable enough to go outside with the kids."

She looked at him, incredulous, "And how does he know that?!" She tried not to raise her voice. She did not want the kids to wake up.

"So, it is true." Will playfully watched her get riled up and then continued as he looked out of the window again, "He can read the heat signatures in the house, so he knows."

She was hysterical now. "Well, that's just… _creepy_, Will! Please ask him to stop doing that!"

"He just gets bored. It's harmless."

"I don't care! Don't leave him here alone, ever!"

"Well," Will peeked out of another window. "I don't think you have to worry about being here alone with him anymore." That did not help her feel any better at all. One alien was screwed up enough as it was.

Sarah watched Will looking out of the window a minute before commenting, "You know, if they can read our heat signatures, don't you think they know you're doing that?"

Will sighed, defeated. She did have a point there. He never did see another vehicle, so he just walked out of the door to speak with Ironhide, who was probably amusing himself with the knowledge that both the Lennox's were hiding behind the front door. Only, Ironhide wasn't there. Will looked around. Ironhide usually stayed in the driveway or the yard when the weather was nice. That crazy not-wife of his must have found him. Optimus probably couldn't reach him because she probably fried his communications system, or something. Well, there was only one other place he could be, so Will headed in that direction.

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Chromia had no trouble at all in finding Ironhide. She couldn't talk to him because he had turned off his fraggin' communications system, probably because he knew she had a few choice words for him, and she didn't use their link because it was actually too painful. However, he was broadcasting himself so brightly that she could hardly stand it, which only made her angrier with him than she already was at that little stunt he pulled out on the highway. She didn't have any patience for games at the moment. Her spark was practically demanding to be joined NOW, but she was so slagged off that she figured she could just kill him and end both of their miseries.

She found the house and drove up cautiously, the bright burning sensation of Ironhide coming from another structure off to the side. She drove up to it and looked at it a moment. It didn't look very stable.

'You've got to be kidding,' she thought to herself as she transformed.

When she didn't make a move to go inside, he reached out to her with a passionate intensity that almost had her moaning. She shook it off, her anger spiking as she rolled out her cannon, bringing it to life as she charged through the door.

Ironhide slammed the door shut as soon as she charged in and was upon her before she had any chance to train her weapon on him. He grabbed her arms and held them steadfastly behind her back while he grasped both of her hands together in a vice grip of his large right hand. She struggled against him, hissing and growling, as he swiftly backed her up, pressing her firmly against a support beam of the barn. The beam made a cracking sound, but it held.

"Let go of me!" she hissed at him as she struggled to get free, which was made all the more difficult with her slaggin' spark's excitement at his proximity. "Let go of me you Pit-fraggin' slaggard!"

He tightened his grip and watched her a second as she seethed at him, her spark betraying her, calling intently and painfully to his in anticipation, as little arcs of lightning passed between them. His chassis opened involuntarily.

"I'm not letting you go, Chromia," his low voice washed deeply through her, intoxicating her, as it reverberated through her frame. "I'm never letting you go again," and his warmth swept over her and through her inner systems, finding its way out of her vocal processors as a soft sighing hum.

He moved closer, rubbing his right cheek-plate against hers, purring softly in her audio receptor. She hummed again, relaxing in his grip, her anger dissolving. She didn't care what they said about him. The old, gruff, hard-as-nails, temperamental, trigger-happy Ironhide was capable of affection. She leaned into his rubbing and sighed softly in his audio receptor. He loosened his grip, but he did not let go of her.

He reached down with his left hand and warm, seductive fingers traced the armor over her right thigh. He then slipped his hand underneath and sensuously massaged the more sensitive wiring of her protoform, his purring becoming deeper as he did so. She moaned lightly, making his sensory endings stand up.

He firmly grabbed her sensitized thigh and aggressively pulled her to him, while pushing her harder against the beam with his frame. She let out a pleasurable yelp at the sudden movement and her pump began beating wildly as electricity danced between their sparks.

He brought his hand up, dragging his fingers along her stomach as he did so, drawing little hushed whimpers from her. He shuddered at the sound of her. She started trembling as he placed his hand over her chassis. He kept it there a moment, savoring her before opening it. The light from her spark burst out brightly. He looked at it a moment. Ironhide couldn't imagine a more beautiful spark than hers.

He lightly rested his hand over the large puncturing scar underneath her spark casing. She didn't normally let him touch it. He thanked Primus every day for her surviving that injury. He had considered it a symbol in the past, something that proved to him that he could never lose her. During their separation, he was beginning to think the symbol had been wrong, but now it had renewed meaning... Chromia started squirming uncomfortably when he lingered too long and he reached up to rhythmically rub her spark casing.

_Ah, that's better…_

Ironhide shuddered as he caressed her spark casing, lightly placing his thumb over the thin translucent spark cover, and gently rubbing it aside, fully exposing her spark to him and extracting a cry from her that set him on fire. Her spark vibrated in her chest, painfully desperate to be joined with his. It was all he could do to keep his spark from jumping out at her. Little coolant fans began whirring to life within various systems throughout their frames.

Her frame trembling fiercely against him, Chromia opened her optics to make optic contact with him as he closed in…and caught a motion behind them.

Ironhide felt her sudden alarm and tension, but did not stop himself until she called out his name. It did not come out at all like she intended, sounding more like a strangled pleading, giving him the wrong idea. Quite satisfied with himself, he started moving in again.

She sent a shock of irritation through him that made him jump from the sting of it. She wasn't _begging_ him, she was _warning_ him.

Ironhide's combat systems kicked in immediately. He quickly and painfully withdrew, turning to draw his left cannon to bear on the intruder, but still holding Chromia firmly in place with his right hand. Their sparks protested in agony at the sudden separation. His entire being was screaming at him to be joined. They were so close!

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William Lennox walked into the barn, into a scene that he would never forget, on a day full of scenes that he would never forget. There, pinned against a support beam by none other than Ironhide, was the femme; he couldn't remember her name to save his life. Her chest lay open with the same bright burning ball of icy blue fire he'd seen in Ironhide's. She was emitting noises that sounded like whimpering and her body was shaking. Ironhide was holding her wrists behind her back, his injured leg shaking against her as he struggled to keep his balance. His own chest was open, but, from this angle, Will couldn't see his spark. However, Will couldn't miss the large humming cannon pointed his way.

"Lennox!" Ironhide bellowed. "If you do not get out of here, I will shoot you where you stand!"

Will backed up, but the femme looked like she was in pain… and it sounded like she was crying. Actual concern for her kept him from going too far. Suddenly, he remembered her name.

"Um, Chromia?" he swallowed. "Should I call for backup?"

"GET OUT!!" they both yelled in unison and Will could not oblige fast enough.

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Will ran out of the barn and shut the door, leaning his forehead against it as he couldn't imagine his night getting any crazier.

"What's going on?" Sarah's voice came from behind him, and, for the nth time, he jumped high in the air.

"Sarah! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" he breathed.

Sarah ignored him and said, "I want to meet her."

"You can't right now…um, I think…I think he's about to screw her," Will stated matter-of-factly, but with worry in his eyes.

"What?! Can they do that?" Ignoring the crude way her husband had said that, Sarah tried peaking through the cracks in the door, but couldn't see anything.

"I…I don't _know_, but she looked like he was hurting her, and he threatened to kill me!" Will said excitedly and described to her what he saw. They went silent as they heard noises coming from within.

"It sounds like he's killing her!" Sarah said worriedly. "What should we do?"

"There's not really anything we can do…except..." Will said and they hurried towards the house.

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It was Ratchet who answered and upon hearing Will's voice, he said, "William Lennox! We have been looking for you! We have been trying to locate Ironhide."

"Yes, he's here," Will said to him and before he could get anything else out…

"He's there?! Optimus was getting worried that the new arrival might be a Decepticon that he couldn't handle, that he might have been broadcasting an Autobot signal to lure us into a trap. Why didn't he bring him here? Where is he now? We need to speak with him."

"Well, that's why I'm calling. I think we need your help. Ironhide said the new arrival's name is Chromia..." and Will launched into the story of his day and how they are now out in his barn and his concern.... Chromia could be dead already.

There was dead silence on Ratchet's end. All he heard William Lennox say was that the new arrival's name was 'Chromia.' He missed everything else in his shock.

After some length, Will finally said, "Ratchet, are you still there?"

Ratchet couldn't find his voice for a second. Finally, he was able to speak, "Um, yes, well, that explains why he has not been answering our calls."

Another moment passed and Ratchet seemed to remember something else William Lennox asked, "Um, so, why do you need our help?"

Will launched into his story again and Ratchet winced when William Lennox got to the part about Ironhide threatening him.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear you say that," Ratchet commented on Ironhide's threat and then, "He's not hurting her, William Lennox."

"I keep telling you guys that you can just call me 'Will.'"

"He's not hurting her, Will," Ratchet repeated. "They are both in considerable pain due to the amount of time they've been separated," which explained why she looked like she was in pain, "and they need to join."

"What? What does that _mean_? Do you mean they're having sex in my barn? My grandfather built that barn!" Of course, he and his wife had defiled it a time or two, but that was beside the point.

"They cannot have sex, William, er, Will. We are not like organics. We lack the organs for such a function," Ratchet said to him. "As far as their reaction upon first contact…That is very interesting."

"Interesting? You mean, you don't even know?!" Will couldn't believe it. Not only did he not understand them, but it seemed there were things they didn't understand about themselves.

"Sparkmates have never been separated this long before, so it's new to us too. I will record your accounting and then ask them more at another time. But for now, you had probably better give them some space. Those two are about as trigger-happy as a couple of Decepticons."

"Yea, I gathered," Will retorted. "Are you sure they're not?" There was silence on the other end. "I'm just kidding, Ratchet."

Will was about to ask what exactly a 'spark-mate' was when his wife suddenly ran into the room, "Will! Come quick, HURRY!!"

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In one fluid motion, Ironhide quickly rolled away his cannon, turned, and immediately pushed his chest into Chromia's as soon as the human ran out of the barn. Their sparks came together in a brilliant display of lightning and energy that burst out from between them as tiny little fiery sparks in all directions. A long, loud melodious cry escaped her as large, warm, rapturous waves of his passion overwhelmed her. Unable to function under the strain, her vocal processors cut off to reboot themselves. She barely noticed, but Ironhide's rebooted as well.

Her spark grabbed his and pulled him in, their essences swirling around each other before embracing warmly and melting into one another. Everything about him became her and everything about her became him. They were no longer two separate beings, but two parts of One. One was neither Ironhide nor Chromia. His intensity, his fierce temperament, his undying love for her, even his pain, combined with her wildness, her passion, her undying love for him, even her pain.

Instantly, the pain was gone. Ten thousand vorns of their suffering simply vanished. It was as if no time had passed at all. In fact, there was no time as past, present, and future became a part of The One.

There was no time. There was no space. There was no distance. There was only The One.

The confines of the room seemed to fall away until The One was no longer bound to Earth, no longer bound to any one galaxy. The One became its own universe, floating freely in a pure state of being. There was no more pain, no more suffering. There was only The One; a wild, fierce, intense Love burning within it that could not be swayed. The multiverse became aware of this One full of Love, embraced it, and made it its own.

Ironhide's frame pushed further into Chromia's, compacting their joined sparks, intensifying the feeling, her now online vocal processors emitting another cry that rendered them offline again.

The One recognized the sound as coming from a part of Itself, the part that was called Chromia. The other part of Itself, the part that was called Ironhide, stirred into its own semi-consciousness, as it was satisfactorily distracted by the sound. This momentary distraction allowed the part that was called Ironhide to be distracted by something else...

The part that was Ironhide was trying to speak to the part that was Chromia, but it wasn't listening. The part that was Ironhide used all the willpower he could muster to try and withdraw, splitting One back into two conscious beings.

At some point, Chromia's hands had been freed, so she reached out and pulled him back to her. Ironhide fell back into her, moaning deeply in pure rapture, but forced himself with every bit of control he had to withdraw again and take into account the new threat around them.

Chromia vaguely thought she heard him say, "The barn is on fire," but she was too caught up in the moment. Suddenly, he broke contact entirely, but she could still feel his heat.

Ironhide, recovering quickly, tried to pull her from her euphoria. He grabbed her up, cradling her in his arms. She became fully aware now and saw that a roaring fire had spread throughout the entirety of the barn. She realized that the heat wasn't from him, but from the fire. She held onto him tightly as he rammed through the back wall of the barn, burning wood and timber falling over them as he did so.

Once he was a safe distance from the barn, he looked down at her and asked, "Are you okay?"

Chromia looked over his shoulder at the now fully ablaze barn and then looked into his optics and… started laughing.

That wasn't the reaction Ironhide expected. He turned to see the fire-engulfed structure and his optics widened in horror. She was still giggling in his arms, a finger lightly tracing his armor over his spark.

"I don't see how this is so funny," he said as he put her down. She almost collapsed onto the ground.

"Whoa," he reached down to steady her, pulling her against him for support. A smile crossed his faceplates. He _had_ warn her out.

A section of the barn collapsed, ash and cinders flying high into the air. They could hear fire truck sirens coming from the distance. Chromia tried to stifle her laughing, but Ironhide could feel her shaking with laughter against him. He looked down at her and her up at him and they both watched the barn again.

As a grin formed on his faceplates, Ironhide chuckled. He reached down and lifted Chromia up until her chest was touching his. Their sparks skipped with renewed fervor, but at least they were now able to control themselves. They smiled at each other and embraced, relief passing between them.

They had found each other at last.

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	5. Bonded to Ironhide

(posted Oct. 23, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I've become seriously addicted to reviews; I know, it's sad. Please let me know what you think. Thanks to my **REVIEWERS** of chapter 4: **theshadowcat, Karategal, Bluebird Soaring, lady tecuma, Phoenix13, atomic luna, Fae Child19, sonofwolf, MadameSoybean, flamingmarsh, Hearts of Eternity, ferretsareillegal, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, ArmoredSoul, grlwdgrntrk, Xerios, Fire Redhead, Lecidre, Freakish Child, TransFlashbacks, KazumiKuwabara, Kb, Cr4ZyFr0G100 from dA (two reviews), Bunnylass, Iluvbee1990, 1bloodtempest, Sista, Shizuka Taiyou, **and** Saberfang90. **I also have a few regular readers. That is very cool. Thank you!

Thanks so much for adding my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: atomic luna, flamingmarsh**

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**CREDITS**: I decided to explain Cybertronian bonds here. Well, I don't know or remember everything about the Transformers universe. I'm making this up as I go along. These are my ideas on the subject. I figure that there are five Cybertronian bonds. I hope it is to your liking, keeping in mind that this is fan fiction. I just kinda glaze over the femme/youngling bond because it is explained more in the coming chapters. The sparkmate bond is from **Hearts of Eternity** and **Karategal **speaks of a brother bond in her fics, so the sibling bond and the friend bond are loosely stemmed from that.

**NOTE**: Lutetium is the heaviest and hardest of the rare Earth elements and has the highest melting point. Also, one vorn equals 83 years. In other words, Ironhide and Chromia have been separated for 10,000 vorns, which is 830,000 years.

_Italics_ are a flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 5

Bonded to Ironhide

by Litahatchee

Optimus came into the room just as Ratchet broke contact with William Lennox.

"Well? Who was it?" he asked.

"Well, it seems that Ironhide has found our new arrival," Ratchet answered. "They're at the Lennox's."

"Why didn't he bring him here?" Optimus wondered.

"Because the 'he' is not a 'he' at all," Ratchet continued. "It's Chromia."

Optimus's jaw dropped clear to the floor.

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There were several types of Cybertronian bonds. Communication could be achieved through all bond types. Mechs could share ideas and even feelings. None of the bonds could be broken, but some were more serious than others.

There was a time when a mech did not think about death. Cybertronians could live practically forever. The passage of time was scarcely noticed. Then the war came, and Megatron rained death upon them without mercy. Bonds became more complicated and, in some cases, less desirable.

There was a bond between friends. This bond extended to commanders and fellow soldiers during the war. In this bond, a link was made and one could communicate instantaneously through the link. Ideas could be shared through the link and, in time of battle, strategies could be transferred without the need for the mechs sharing the link to be in the same part of the battlefield. If one mech died, there was always a void, but death did not come to any others sharing the link. More than one mech could be linked to another. There wasn't a Cybertronian in existence that wasn't bonded in this way.

There was a bond between a sparkling and his or her creators. The creators could better care for the sparkling, knowing what was needed, etc. The bond changed a little as the sparkling grew older, but it was still there and they could still communicate feelings. If a sparkling died, the creators were usually left with such a void that they never created another one.

There was a bond between siblings. If one died, it left the largest void, just short of being spark-bonded, but the other usually lived. The case of twins was different. It was very difficult to revive a twin once the other extinguished. Sometimes the revived twin would do the unthinkable, rather than have to go on alone. It was a good thing that twins were rare.

There was a bond between all femmes and younglings. In this way, all younglings were assured to be cared for, no matter where they came from. As soon as the youngling reached adulthood, this bond faded away.

Then there was the spark bond. This bond was serious and very permanent. Initiating this bond actually changed the sparks of the parties involved. No longer independent of the other, one spark would extinguish in the absence of the other. The sparkmates would feel everything the other felt. They could communicate perfectly though the bond. There would scarcely be an independent thought between the two. Together, they were stronger than they ever were as individuals. They still possessed their individual strengths, as the bond did not lesson what they were before the bond occurred. However, now all of their strengths were doubled and could be shared, thus quadrupling them. They could become virtually unstoppable, which was the case with Ironhide and Chromia. Those two really loved the battlefield and pressed the advantage against the Decepticons often. Many joked that they bonded just for that reason. It was said that even Megatron avoided them...

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"_I'm going to bond with Ironhide," Chromia stated matter-of-factly, as she entered Elita's office._

"_Sure," Elita replied absently, working diligently at her computer. "Make a link with him. It's probably a good idea, anyway. You two are always in combat together. Actually, I'm surprised you haven't already."_

_Chromia watched her work a second and then said, "No, I mean bond bond."_

_Elita sat still for a moment, but did not look up. She then glanced at Chromia and said, "Oh, forgive me." She started working again, "For a second, I thought you meant that you are going to spark bond with him." She chuckled._

_"I did," Chromia said without hesitation._

_Elita's head popped up. She nearly had a spark attack right then and there, "WHAT? You can't be serious…" Chromia glared at her, daggers in her eyes. "You ARE serious!"_

"_I can't help it; I'm in love with him, Elita."_

"_But do you realize what you're doing? You can never go back."_

"_Thanks," Chromia retorted, "but I understand how it works. Besides, you bonded with Optimus."_

"_Yea," Elita replied. "Calm, collective, noble, kind-sparked… Optimus." _

"_Oh, spare me," Chromia stated._

_Elita continued, "Seriously, Ironhide? Come on, Chromia, you may as well be bonding with a Decepticon."_

"_Elita? That's unfair! Ironhide's loyal…"_

_Elita cut her off, "He's mean, un-social, unpredictable, temperamental..."_

_Chromia decided to help her with her list, "…trigger happy, a circuit short…"_

"_Don't come to me when it all goes to Pit," Elita finished._

"_Don't you see? It's because of these things that I love him," Chromia said._

"_Did I mention that he's mean?" Elita said again._

_Elita thought about it for a second. Come to think of it, she was describing Chromia as well. Chromia wasn't much different..._

888

Ironhide chuckled softly, "I already know that one."

He and Chromia were hiding in a grove of trees, waiting for the firemen to leave. She was lying in his lap, her interfacing line from her hand connected behind his neck. He was doing the same, his free hand tracing circles on her stomach-plating. They were exchanging memories of their adventures during their separation. It was a lot faster this way. It could take a few centuries if they had to say it all. They had just about shared everything there was to share, or, in the very least, everything they wanted to share at the moment, so files they had already shared in the past were beginning to surface.

There were two ways a mech could interface. There was a port behind the neck, used mainly to transfer information quickly between the CPUs of two Cybertronians. Energy could also be transferred in this way. In addition, it was used during spark-mating to transfer CPU programming to the newly created sparkling. Then there was a port directly below the abdomen. This was considered a more intimate connection, used mainly for pleasure, but energy and information could be transferred through it as well. It also came into use during spark-mating, as informational bytes of a mech's protoform makeup would be exchanged from the mech to the femme for the creation of a sparkling, in addition to energy transfer to sustain the new life.

Medics used both interfaces for the transfer of energy to an injured bot, with the abdominal interface being preferred for more serious injuries since more energy could be transferred through it.

Due to Chromia's injury, her abdominal interface had been removed. When it came to pleasure, sparkmates typically abandoned this form of interfacing for the more satisfying spark bonding, but it didn't make things any easier for Ironhide. It was just another thing that had been taken from them. When something was missing, one tended to miss it more. He crushed his rising anger. He didn't want to ruin the moment with bitter memories. They were sharing unhappy memories too, but the particularly horrendous ones were being avoided.

"Elita would kill me for sharing that with you," Chromia had felt his anger, but chose to ignore it when he quickly let it go. She didn't want to ruin the moment either. It was very difficult to hide anything from each other.

Speaking of hiding things, Chromia noticed an unopened file buried deep in Ironhide's familial directory. Typically, this directory only held memories of his family, but she did not recognize this particular file. She went for it and he flinched away, tensing up, and resisting. She saw that it was a mech very special to him, but she couldn't see who it was.

"Who is that, Hide?" she asked tentatively. He shifted the file from her and moved it someplace else, but she was persistent.

"I don't want to get into that right now, Chromia," he was straining.

He knew how this news was going to affect her. He couldn't keep her from gaining access for much longer. She was just about to open it when he shuttered his optics against her intrusion.

Chromia realized that he felt like she was intruding and she stopped. She had _very _strong feelings about intrusions, but Ironhide had never hidden anything from her before. She was hurt, and almost disconnected, but he clapped his hand over hers behind his neck.

"No, don't go. It's okay. It's just…um…I'll tell you about it later. Trust me, Chromia," he said as he projected calm through their bond and their interface.

He reached down and caressed her face, his love for her filling her CPU until she could think of nothing else. Welcoming his diversion, she caressed his face in return, her thumb tracing the long scar along his brow and down his cheek. He leaned into her hand and then felt the unmistakable tug of her spark calling to him. They had discovered long ago that spark-bonding while interfacing in this way was exquisite. He lifted her up to his chest as he got his feet under him to place her on the ground and roll over on top of her. He took in their surroundings. It seemed that everything on this planet was flammable. Maybe, this time, if he went slowly, they wouldn't burn anything down.

888888888888888

Will kicked at the ashes as he surveyed the damage. It was still smoldering, but the firemen had done all they could. All they could really do was contain the fire. The barn was a complete loss, save for one lone support beam. They had decided that it was an electrical fire, but they were puzzled because...

"Yea, an electrical fire in a barn with no electricity," Will thought as he scanned the yard for the culprits.

Oh, he was so pissed. He could scarcely wait for the firemen to leave. However, now that they were gone, he didn't really have any idea what he was going to do about it.

Will caught movement in a grove of trees and headed in that direction. As he approached, he saw them. Ironhide was holding her in his arms, their chests making a humming noise. Will realized, with curiosity, that they were resonating in unison. Their hands were cupped behind their necks with that strange wire connection. She was caressing the side of his face, idly tracing the scar there with her thumb. Ironhide had told Will some of the craziest war stories he had ever heard, but he had never told him how he got that scar. Ironhide was leaning his head into her touch, his optics shuttered. They were speaking softly to each other in Cybertronian. Ironhide looked the most content Will had ever seen him, but also…sad.

Will watched them awhile. They were in love. They had to be. Maybe that was what the whole sparkmate thing meant. Ratchet, and Ironhide for that matter, had talked about joining as a thing that just had to be done, but now Will suspected love was involved.

Will's anger subsided a bit as he tried to imagine what it was like for them. He knew how a year felt being away from Sarah. It was painful and frustrating and scary. He couldn't imagine what 10,000 vorns must be like for them. They were old, hundreds of thousands of years old, maybe even millions. Hell, Ironhide didn't even know how old he was, but 10,000 vorns was long, even for them. Will tried to figure out what that would be for him and Sarah. He tried to imagine being separated from Sarah for 10 years…20 years. He shuddered at the thought.

Ironhide lifted her up and began to roll over her. Not wanting to be noticed and have a repeat of last night, Will cleared his throat to let them know he was there.

Ironhide shot straight up, dropping her, unceremoniously, flat on her back, their connections painfully ripping from each other's necks. They were disoriented at first, and then Chromia made a hissing noise, clasping the back of her neck.

"OWWW! Hide, what are you…?" she managed to get out before Ironhide reached down and pulled her to her feet. She hadn't heard Will, but she saw him now.

Chromia looked at the ground and Ironhide idly scratched the back of his neck. They both looked incredibly guilty. She glanced at Will and then at Ironhide, who said something to her in Cybertronian. She said something back and Will got the distinct impression that they were arguing. She then elbowed him in the chest. Ironhide grunted painfully and glared in her direction, but he didn't look at her. A knowing smile crossed her faceplates; he was sore from last night's violent joining.

"_I _am sor..." Ironhide began and she elbowed him again, much harder. "OOOWWW!" he complained, stepping away from her and rubbing his chest where his spark lay underneath.

"_We_…" Ironhide started again, looking at her pointedly, "We are sorry about your barn."

"You burned it down," Will replied, trying unsuccessfully to muster up some anger.

Ironhide opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He looked to Chromia again.

"Yes," was all she could say. It was simple. They did, indeed, burn down the barn.

"You burned it down," Will repeated and then, "…to the _ground_. There's nothing left. They couldn't save _any_ of it! Well, one support beam is still standing, but that's _it!_"

Will thought he saw her blush, but he really couldn't tell. Ironhide wouldn't even look at him.

"My grandfather built that barn… fifty years ago!" Will continued.

"Fifty years?" Chromia couldn't contain her smile, "Human years?" She chuckled now, "Will, that's not even long enough to be…"

Ironhide shot her a look that could melt lutetium.

Will just stared at her, incredulous. And to think that, just a few hours before, he'd been concerned about her. Will's anger returned, but he was shocked speechless.

"We'll help you rebuild it," Chromia recovered. "And it'll last a lot longer than 50 years."

They weren't quite getting the sentimental qualities of his grandfather's barn, but Will accepted that they were trying. There really wasn't anything he could do about it anyway. He relaxed again and sighed. He still had his grandfather's house. Thinking of a burning childhood home, he said to them, pointing his finger at each of them in turn,

"Okay, just…stay away from my house."

Ironhide and Chromia exchanged glances. They had no idea what he meant by that, but they would keep their distance from his house.

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	6. Parasites and Symbiotes

(posted Nov. 5, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks a million to my **REVIEWERS** of chapter 5: **flamingmarsh, theshadowcat, Bluebird Soaring, Fae Child19, Karategal, Ray of Starlight, lady tecuma, Blume, MadameSoybean, staringsideways, ferretsareillegal, ArmoredSoul, grlwdgrntrk, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Xerios, Lecidre, Freakish Child, TransFlashbacks, SOnicHerO100, Cr4ZyFr0g100 from dA, Bunnylass, Iluvbee1990, 1bloodtempest, Sista, **and** Shizuka Taiyou. **I work for reviews! Hahahah!

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Awesome! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

**CREDITS**: Eternal thanks to **Karategal** for letting me expand on her idea from her awesome story, **'Youngling,'** of the femmes/sparklings/younglings getting attacked to the point of gendercide of the Cybertronian race, as well as sparklingcide. I am also referencing this idea from **'Sparks and Plasma'** by **lady tecuma**, with permission.

**Bold faced print** is Ironhide and Chromia communicating in Cybertronian via their personal link/ bond.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 6

Parasites and Symbiotes

by Litahatchee

As they stood there, pondering Will's comment to stay away from his house, another human came up from behind Will...and Chromia froze.

"**Is that what I think it is?"** she transmitted to Ironhide.

"**Yes… and no,"** he sent back.

Chromia just stared at the new human, a wide range of emotions running through her. Will had a femme!

"**Where did she come from?"** Chromia tensed up as long repressed memories began to surface. Ironhide gently touched her arm.

"**They are not scarce here. They are 51.1 of the population," **Ironhide said to her. He then added, **"They are in no danger here." **He sent a feeling of calmness to her through their bond.

"**More than half…"** Chromia didn't believe femmes were ever even close to half the population of Cybertron. **"Do they produce younglings?"**

"**Yes, but not like we do,"** he answered, relieved as she became more relaxed, even though this was a very touchy subject. **"The process is much easier. Most families have two of them. I've even heard of some families having as many as eight, with equally as many females as males."**

Chromia gave him a look that suggested she didn't believe him, which she didn't.

Femmes in Cybertron were uncommon, even before Megatron…Chromia pushed the thought from her mind.

Now femmes were non-existent. Chromia did not want to even think about the young ones. She could still hear their screams…

There wasn't one Cybertronian youngling left, as far as she knew. She shuddered her optics as she pushed it all away.

A wave of sympathy came at her, practically crushing her. She looked to Ironhide.

"**Stop it. I don't need or want your sympathy," **she transmitted harshly.

Primus, he was so intense with everything, but, and she didn't care what they always said about him, he was definitely capable of some sympathy.

Ironhide withdrew what he could, his sadness inadvertently left in its wake. Chromia immediately regretted her words. Primus, he deserved her sympathy just as much as she deserved his. They needed each other.

Chromia pulled air through her vents and let it out in a sigh. Before she could tell him she was sorry, Ironhide transmitted to her, **"Don't be."**

Oblivious of the inner dialogue between the two aliens, the human femme cleared her throat and elbowed Will to introduce her. Chromia liked her already.

"Oh, right. Um, Sarah, this is Chromia, Ironhide's, er, not-wife?" Will was starting to have fun with this now.

Ironhide glared at him. "Sparkmate," he all but growled.

Will smiled, "Right…and Chromia, this is Sarah, my wife."

"She's beautiful…" Sarah breathed.

Chromia found herself smiling at the human femme. Primus, they really do grow on you. She was not about to let one of them ride in her alt form, though. That was just way too much for her, even if they weren't really parasites. She humored Ironhide the other day by opening her door for Will, but she never would have allowed him to get in. Ironhide had assured her that Will wouldn't and that it was something about 'reverse psychology' that worked on humans. Chromia had been skeptical and then amazed when it really did work.

"Beautiful?! Beautiful is not what comes to my mind," Will whispered to Sarah.

Chromia found that this Will was amusing.

"…She's not scary at all, Will," Sarah continued.

"She's crazy..." Will said.

Now Chromia laughed.

"…And she laughs! That one doesn't laugh much." Sarah pointed to Ironhide, who grumbled something about the Pit-spawned humans he found himself attached to.

Chromia laughed again.

888888888888888

Will and Sarah had gone back to the house for Will to get ready to accompany their resident aliens to the Autobot base. Sarah kissed Will 'bye' and walked out on the porch with him.

"Why are they parked way over there?" she asked him.

Will laughed, "I told them to stay away from the house. Looks like they took it to heart, or their sparks, or whatever."

Ironhide and Chromia sat in their alt forms, parked some distance from the house. Chromia decided to be the Escalade again today. They were waiting for Will and she was beginning to get impatient.

Chromia watched Will climb into Ironhide's Topkick form. "**Does he have to go everywhere with you?" **Suddenly, she became concerned, **"He's not becoming your symbiote, is he?"**

"**Yes," **he answered the first question and then realized it sounded like he could have been answering the second, so he quickly added, **"Well, no, but I'm sort of his personal experiment."**

"**His what? Can you hear yourself speak? That just doesn't sound right," **Chromia said to him.

"**They don't do anything invasive. They just want to know about us, so I give them enough information so they know we're friendly."**

Chromia laughed, **"You and friendly…I'm surprised they haven't declared us the enemy already."**

"**It's Optimus's idea,"** he grumbled. **"They mostly just want to know about our weapons, so that would be me." **

The humans were clever, but they couldn't do much with the information he gave them, which wasn't much. He satiated their appetites enough for the Autobots to be left alone.

Chromia got the impression that he was leaving something out. Why would Optimus send _Ironhide_, of all mechs, to act as a friendly liaison, even if he was the weapons specialist? Perhaps one of them had been hurt already...

"Don't worry, it's not going to last very long," Ironhide continued. "He thinks 50 years is a long time, remember?"

"Oh, gee, thanks Ironhide. You guys are just hilarious with my mortality today," Will suddenly stated from the cab.

Ironhide ran a systems check. Did he just transmit that out loud? ...And in English, no less. Primus, he _was_ getting old.

At that moment, Sarah came running out onto the porch, yelling for Will to come get the phone.

"Thanks a lot for making me lose my cell phone," Will mumbled to Ironhide as he started to get out. Will stopped, "Could you just drive me up to the house?"

"I could, but I will keep my distance from your house, as you asked," Ironhide stated, but there might have been a little sarcasm involved.

"Well, now I'm asking you to take me up to it." Will was getting frustrated.

"Start walking, human."

888888888888888

Chromia's impatience was starting to get the better of her, "This is getting ridiculous. I'm surprised Optimus hasn't come looking for us."

Ironhide said nothing.

One of Will's children, the one they called Annabelle, ran out onto the porch. She danced around in circles for awhile and then danced down the stairs.

Chromia couldn't believe what she was seeing. **"Primus, Ironhide, it looks like a sparkling! You didn't tell me these two had young ones." **

Chromia suddenly understood why Optimus felt the need to destroy the AllSpark. It didn't make things any easier for them. With the destruction of the AllSpark and no more femmes, they were as good as extinct, but she now understood. There was no way they could allow the same hardships to fall on this planet as had fallen on theirs.

Ironhide sensed Chromia's sudden urgency. "Don't transform," he said quickly.

"Why? I want to pick it up," Chromia said as she watched the youngling twirl and dance and, what else was it doing? It was singing!

"You can't. She doesn't know about us."

"She?" This was getting better and better and Chromia was really starting to like this Lennox family. She was beginning to see what Ironhide saw in them. She was becoming convinced that Optimus made the right decision.

"Yes, she's what they call a female child. She's 5 years old. Her name is Annabelle."

Annabelle danced right up to the black GMC Topkick and started singing to it, "Iron-hide is my fri-i-i-end."

Ironhide laughed… out loud.

"**I thought you said she doesn't know about us?!"** Chromia transmitted to him.

"**She doesn't. I talk to her when Will and Sarah aren't looking. She thinks I'm her invisible friend," **Ironhide sent back.

"**She thinks what?! Hide, you can't do that. You're going to confuse her…"** Chromia was appalled.

"**I'm not confusing her,"** Ironhide replied, somewhat offensively. He started humming along with her song, out loud!

"**What the Pit, Ironhide?! You're going to screw up her CPU,"** Chromia was incredulous.

"**She doesn't have a CPU,"** Ironhide stated, matter-of-factly, as he continued humming.

"**Well, you're going to screw something up. She has a mind of her own. She can communicate. She's sentient!"** Chromia continued.

"**I'm not screwing up anything. She's fine. You should talk to her,"** Ironhide suggested.

"**No."** The very idea made Chromia cringe.

"**Talk and see what she does. Watch her reaction. It's actually pretty fun,"** Ironhide continued.

"**You're sick,"** Chromia couldn't believe this.

"**You're the one that wanted to pick her up like she's a kitten,"** Ironhide retorted.

"**A what?"**

"**A kitten. It's this furry little creature….never mind."** Ironhide saw she wasn't listening anyway.

Sarah came out and saw Annabelle over at the truck. She started towards them. Chromia saw that she was holding a much smaller child than Annabelle.

"**That's what they call a 'baby.' That one's a boy. They call him 'Matt,'"** Ironhide's transmission cut into her thoughts.

"**And are you fragging with his mind too?"** Chromia couldn't let Ironhide turn these beings into mental cases.

"**That one's too small. He doesn't talk,"** Ironhide said without missing a beat.

Sarah smiled as she walked up to them, "Come on, Annabelle, let's go back to the house."

Will walked out of their house and Annabelle ran back to hug him, yelling happily, "Daddy!"

Sarah turned to leave and Chromia stopped her by saying, "Ironhide talks to your femme child when you're not looking."

Ironhide almost transformed. In fact, he started to, his gears grinding through the sequence, when Sarah said, "I already know, so, please, don't make her think you're a monster." He settled back into is truck form, mumbling something about his Pit-slagging sparkmate trying to spoil his fun.

"You know?!" Chromia was flabbergasted.

"Yes, it's okay. I had an invisible friend when I was little too," Sarah replied.

Even through his truck form, Chromia could tell that Ironhide was smirking victoriously at her.

'They know and they're okay with it?' Chromia thought to herself. 'These beings are deranged.'

888888888888888

Will finally came back and they were finally able to leave. He looked in Ironhide's rear view mirror and saw a very obviously driver-less Escalade following them.

"Um, Ironhide, Chromia needs a driver," Will said to him.

A vehicle without a driver going down the street in broad daylight…

Ironhide transmitted to Chromia the need to appear to have a human 'driver' on this planet, so as not to scare the humans, and that they have been using holograms.

"**What does your hologram look like?"** she asked him curiously.

"**Well,"** Ironhide responded. **"My parasite/symbiote is usually with me, so I haven't had much need for it."**

Chromia smiled at his sarcasm and then thought about a hologram. Chromia had an idea and a woman appeared in her driver's seat.

Will was relieved to see that Chromia now had a driver, but he did a double take when he saw who it was.

Chromia's driver looked just like his wife!

"That's really creepy," he said out loud, but to himself. He then added, "She really creeps me out, Ironhide."

Ironhide chuckled as he observed Chromia adding other holograms to her passenger seats; one was Annabelle and the other was Matt.

888888888888888

For the most part, the drive was silent. Both Will and Ironhide seemed to be lost in their own thoughts as they rode across the desert. The Autobot base wasn't far from Will's home, but it was still a several hours's drive away. The base itself was nothing more than the Autobot ship, the Ark, buried deep in a mountainside. They had landed the ship under cover of darkness, but there were still reports of a UFO sighting on the same evening.

The government had given them a spot on a highly restricted missile range for their base of operations. They dug in right in the middle of the range and, with the restricted access, the likelihood of ever being found or seen by any humans that didn't know about them was slim to none. Even most military folks wouldn't know about them, as it was a highly top-secret, highly restricted, shoot-at-first-sight zone.

"Are you capable of love?" Will's voice suddenly cut through Ironhide's thoughts.

"What?" He was sure he heard Will correctly, but it was a strange question.

"Are you capable of love?" Will asked again.

"Of course, we're capable of love," Ironhide responded.

"No," Will continued. "I mean, you, specifically."

Ironhide was silent.

Will sighed. Sometimes getting through to Ironhide was like punching through a brick wall.

"Do you love _her_, Ironhide," Will said a little too forcefully in his frustration. "_Her_, the Escalade following us, _Chromia_…Is that what it means to be sparkmates?"

Ironhide remained silent for awhile longer, until Will let out a breath of resignation.

"Yes," Ironhide finally spoke. "I love her more than anything," it was almost a whisper, "I would give up my body and give her my spark to keep forever if I knew it was possible."

Now it was Will's turn to be silent and they continued to ride along, lost in their thoughts once more.

888888888888888

"That was Colonel Lagier on the phone, by the way," Will stated some time later, as they were getting closer. "They know there's a new arrival, but I didn't give them the details. He's sending a contingent out to observe our arrival to the Autobot base."

"No," Ironhide's tone was deadly serious and took Will by surprise.

"What?" Will didn't realize Ironhide would have a problem with this. Besides, Ironhide was well aware of protocol. Will was just giving him a heads up.

"The answer is 'NO', Will." Ironhide actually sounded angry.

"Well, they're already on their way, maybe even already here. They're going to meet us there," Will said to him.

Ironhide slammed on his breaks, Chromia barely missing him as she slammed on her breaks also. She reached out to him and found that he was very angry about something. Will sat in shock as they came to a stop.

"Call them off," Ironhide stated harshly.

"What? I don't understand!" Will said sternly. "This is protocol; you know that!"

"This is not negotiable, William Lennox…Call. Them. Off."

Will was about to protest about not having a phone, when Ironhide opened a line in his communications system.

More questions than answers arose about this femme, as Will got the distinct impression that Ironhide was protecting her from something.

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* * *

**A/N: **Okay, so the number of 8 children that Ironhide says came right out of nowhere. I first wrote 12, but that is a lot, even for us. There are 6 in my family, so I figured 8 isn't too far fetched. Not very common, but likely. Hell, my grandfather had 18 siblings, so, really, it's not a crazy concept.

You should leave a review. You know you want to... HA HA, okay, okay, I'm doing the begging thing that I thought was so absurd. I'm sorry! I just love reading what people have to say (Who doesn't, right? *wink*).

8888


	7. Of Femmes and Sparklings

(posted Nov. 12, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to all my **REVIEWERS** of chapter 6: **Karategal, LadyJet2, theshadowcat, RachaelMNiner, flamingmarsh, Hearts of Eternity, Bluebird Soaring, Fae Child19, mutated glow worm, Blume, MadameSoybean, ferretsareillegal (thanks for reviewing all chapters at once!), lady tecuma, Sunstreaker, plenoptic, ArmoredSoul, grlwdgrntrk, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Xerios, Lecidre, TransFlashbacks, Bunnylass, WolvenMoonMist from dA, Iluvbee1990, 1bloodtempest, Sista, **and **Shizuka Taiyou!** Thank you!

Thanks for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: Blume, Maraluch**

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**[Author Alert]: PR0JECT VIRUS**

You guys rock!

This chapter was EXTREMELY difficult to write. Surprisingly difficult, in fact. I had a tough time with the order of things. So...I hope you enjoy this one.

**NOTE**: A "cultural" is a Cultural Anthropologist (a person who studies cultures).

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 7

Of Femmes and Sparklings

by Litahatchee

Will had convinced Colonel Lagier that the contingent could meet with Optimus Prime. Ironhide had agreed, knowing that Optimus would make the right decision. It didn't make any sense to Will at all. The Army already knew there was a new arrival and they were all going to be at the Ark at the same time anyway, so he really didn't see what the big deal was.

When they arrived, it was Ratchet who greeted them and, upon first glance at both of them, ordered them to his repair bay. He had placed Will on a shelf on the opposite side of the room, high enough so Will could see, but also be out of the way of anything dangerous to his fragile body. At the moment, Ratchet was performing a routine maintenance checkup on Chromia. Ironhide was standing directly behind him.

"Chromia, what have you been doing? Your frame is showing signs of stress," Ratchet said as he applied pressure to various parts of her frame. She winced when he hit sore spots.

A wicked chuckle sounded from low in Ironhide's throat with an equally wicked grin crossing his faceplates. Will couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like Chromia winked at him.

"Gah!" Ratchet made a motion with his hand for Ironhide to move away. "Not that, you dirty old mech!" Ratchet looked away from a spot he was checking on her leg to make optic contact with her, "How you ever spark-bonded with this one, I'll never understand."

Without missing a beat, Chromia said back to him, "He suits my needs."

Ratchet shook his head and went back to examining her leg. She was just as dirty as Ironhide was!

"This is caused by either repeated morphing or morphing into something your frame is not suitable for," Ratchet assessed.

Will let out a snort, saying, "She likes to change into different vehicles like she's trying on clothes or something."

They all turned to look at him. Will didn't think he could feel any smaller sitting up on that shelf in this huge room with three giant robots, but he would have been happy if he could have disappeared into the shelf at that moment, especially from the look on Chromia's face.

Ratchet turned back to her and she smiled at him sheepishly. He rested his head in his hand and shook it again, sighing in exasperation. She knew better than that.

"Which form did you settle with?" he asked tiredly.

"I came here in the form of a Cadillac Escalade, but…" Chromia started.

"An Escalade? No wonder…" Ratchet scolded her. "The Escalade is too big for you. If you want to choose an SUV, it's going to have to be a smaller one. Otherwise, you may need to scan a car."

Chromia looked at him, "I think I'll scan a Topkick next," as she playfully glanced over at Ironhide, whose temperatures started to elevate with her comment.

"The Topkick is entirely too big!" Ratchet's voice rose. He had just told her she had to choose something smaller than an Escalade; didn't she hear him?

"I know a Topkick you can scan," Ironhide rumbled seductively as his coolant fans started clicking on.

Ratchet stood up quickly, "Okay, this is not working." It was clearly getting out of hand. He'd thought they'd already joined, but maybe it wasn't complete. He definitely needed to separate them before electricity started flying over his head. "Ironhide, you are going to have to either leave the room or go sit over there," he indicated where Will was seated on the opposite side of the room.

Ironhide opted to go sit by Will.

Ratchet turned back to examine Chromia's abdomen. He didn't want to open her chassis in front of Will, so he just reached under it to feel with his fingers the punctured area.

"A little warning would have been nice," she said to him as he leaned closer to reach under the armor on her back with his other hand to feel the exit wound scar. She sharply drew air into her intakes as she quickly sat up, all the fun she was having dissolving away.

Ironhide distracted her from this part of the examination by continuing, "I like the Jeep Liberty." The title fit her. She was about as free-spirited as they came. There was also something about those round little headlights…

Reading him perfectly, straining, she tried to smile, "You would."

Ratchet started pressing on the bottom of her spark casing.

"How's the weld holding up?" he asked her softly.

"It's fine," she said as she shuddered her optics. This was never very comfortable.

"It feels loose," Ratchet continued. "I will need to replace it soon."

He removed his hands and she let the air out of her intakes. She was afraid he was going to say that.

"That sounds like fun. I can't wait," she mocked in a happy tone, as if she'd just been invited to a party.

Ratchet smiled in spite of it all. Chromia always managed to find ways to cope with her situation. She was an amazing femme.

"Does it still hurt when you join?" Ratchet asked her next.

Ironhide froze; he hadn't known _that. _Chromia didn't look at him. It wasn't something that would ever prevent her from spark-bonding with him, so she had felt it was one less detail he ought to know about.

"I'm fine, _Hatchet_," she hissed at Ratchet, using the old nickname to show her displeasure at his inadvertently informing her sparkmate of this particular aspect of her condition.

Ratchet ignored her. He was in a quandary. He would have liked nothing more than to tell them they needed to cease spark-bonding until he had this resolved. However, there was little he could do to prevent it, especially in light of what Will had informed him earlier. This was a new development, the fact that their sparks would demand to be joined in such a way that they couldn't even be near each other without it happening involuntarily. This must be a last ditch survival effort that occurred when the systems of the sparkmates were getting desperate. Ratchet knew that Ironhide wasn't doing well, but he hadn't realized just how close he had come. Chromia, no doubt, was having the same issues. They were going to need several, complete, uninterrupted joinings in order for their systems to be running well, much less optimally.

Will, once again, had no clue what was going on. Ratchet had started speaking Cybertronian as soon as he leaned in to do something to Chromia's chest. Will noticed that her mood had changed instantly. He had even noticed that Ironhide, of all mechs, had tried to keep it jovial, but now he looked concerned about something.

Ironhide was bonded to everyone on the ship. Ratchet transmitted through the link in their bond, "**You need to take it easy with her, Ironhide."**

Chromia glared at Ratchet. She knew Ironhide had just received a transmission, it had to be coming from Ratchet, and it was probably about her. Ironhide even nodded his head, so she definitely knew it was from Ratchet. She hated it. She hated to be considered fragile by any stretch of the definition. She had just held her own for more than 10,000 vorns for Primus's sake! She was anything but fragile.

At that moment, Ironhide had the gall to try and calm her down through their spark bond. She sent a large shock of her ire to him and he yelped loudly, jumping to his feet. Both Will and Ratchet turned to look at him. He just stood there glaring at her. They then turned to look at her and she gave them an innocent smile. She felt better already.

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Now it was Ironhide's turn. Ratchet had noticed his limping, so he went over to examine his leg. Ironhide turned it so he could see the large, gaping hole he now had the pleasure of enduring, courtesy of his adorable sparkmate.

"Primus, Ironhide, how did this happen?" Ratchet examined the wound closely. "Were you in a wreck?"

Speaking up again, Will stated, "You could say that."

"Oh, I shot him," Chromia said nonchalantly from her spot across the room, shrugging her shoulders.

Ratchet looked from Will to Chromia and then Ironhide, "I can see that nothing's changed." He then tackled the task of welding it back together.

"You guys shouldn't be allowed to have guns," Will observed from his spot on the shelf. "I mean, it's just crazy. You shoot each other. You threaten each other…"

"Speaking of threatening," Ratchet interrupted Will. "Ironhide, you shouldn't threaten the humans." Ratchet jabbed his wound with the welding torch and Ironhide yelped.

Ironhide looked at Ratchet, wondering how he possibly could have known about it already. "I'm not threatening the humans… Just _him_!" He pointed to Will as he glared at him, knowing it had to be him.

"Well," Ratchet continued, pointing to Will also. "Last time I checked, he qualifies as a human. Optimus wouldn't like it."

"Optimus wouldn't like it that you don't use painkillers when operating on mechs!" Ironhide yelled again when Ratchet brought the torch back to the wound.

"I use painkillers when operating on mechs," Ratchet retorted. "Just not _you_!"

Ironhide yelped yet again when Ratchet brought the torch around.

"Oh, be quiet you big sparkling," Chromia said to him.

Ironhide gave her a pained, betrayed, expression. She merely smiled.

"…You shoot each other," Will continued with his observation.

"We're not all like that," Ratchet said to him. "Just these two."

Ironhide groaned. "Here comes the 'comparison,'" he said to Chromia.

She nodded her head saying, "They are just like a couple of Decepticons," in her best mock-Ratchet voice.

"Well, you are," Ratchet responded, touching Ironhide's wound with his torch again, gaining another yelp, albeit not as loud this time.

"Don't listen to him, Will," Ironhide said, once he recovered. "He's full of loose bolts." He scooted away from Ratchet quickly as Ratchet came at him with the welding torch again.

Will laughed, dumbfounded. Did Ironhide just make a joke?

Will decided now was as good of a time as any to ask some of the burning questions he had.

"What is Chromia, exactly? Ironhide says she isn't a female…" he asked Ratchet.

"Oh, that's just Ironhide being difficult," Ratchet interrupted him, again, jabbing his torch into Ironhide's leg, again.

"Owww!" Ironhide protested.

"If you think about it, we are not male in the human sense either," Ratchet continued.

"So, she is female?" Will asked.

"Um, well, no," Ratchet responded.

Will saw that Chromia was smiling. She was definitely amused by his on-going frustration with this. Ironhide had said that she could create life, so Will decided to settle with the knowledge that they were at least of the opposite sex, whatever that was. Speaking of sex...

"Ironhide said that she can create life, since she's a femme. I thought that Optimus said that you could no longer return life to your planet without the AllSpark," Will said.

"Femmes, in general, can create life, yes…" Ratchet started.

"So, that spark-bonding business they were doing in my barn. Does that mean there's going to be a baby?" Will interrupted _him_ this time.

"No," Ratchet responded. "Spark-mating and spark-bonding are two entirely different processes. Spark-bonding is for union, system realignment, energon balance… Spark-mating is for the creation of a sparkling."

Ironhide felt Chromia's sudden despondence through their bond.

"**Get off of this topic,"** he said to Ratchet through their link.

"Are you bonded?" Will asked Ratchet.

Feeling that the subject had changed, Ratchet felt it was okay to continue.

"Yes, I'm bonded to everyone on the ship," Ratchet answered.

"Is it pleasurable?" Will asked innocently. He remembered Sarah talking about Ironhide being bonded to Optimus, but everyone on the ship?

Both Chromia and Ironhide started laughing, seeing Will's disconnect. Apparently, he had heard the term 'bonded' several times without realizing there was a difference in bond types. Of course, his only relation to the term had been by observing two very desperate sparkmates. Images of Ratchet moaning enjoyably during a communiqué from Optimus danced across their CPU's.

Through their laughter, Ratchet realized the mis-interpretation on Will's part.

"No, it is not pleasurable!" he said. "It is just a faster way to communicate. There are several types of bonds that we have. Spark-bonding is the only one that could be considered 'pleasurable' and this is only done by sparkmates…I thought you knew all this." Ratchet suddenly looked to Ironhide.

"They're really only interested in our weapons," Ironhide defended himself. Besides, he didn't even talk about this with Bumblebee. There was no way he was addressing it with an alien species, especially not an organic one.

Ratchet looked at Will, "There's more to us than our war, you know."

"I know," Will responded. "I proposed bringing a cultural in on this several years ago. It still hasn't been approved. In light of recent events, I'm going to start pushing for it again."

"I'd rather you didn't," Ironhide said to him.

Chromia knew immediately what Ironhide was trying to do.

"Ratchet, did you hear that?" she said, her anger rising, "My bonded is going to protect me from the scary little humans."

"They can be," Ironhide said to her.

Chromia had finally had enough. She got up to leave and Ironhide tried to stop her, "I'm serious, Chromia."

She turned to him, saying condescendingly, "Oh, I know," and walked out the door.

Ironhide jumped up to go after her and Ratchet grabbed him, sternly saying, "Sit down! I am not finished."

They were all quiet for awhile, the only sounds coming from Ratchet's torch as he welded Ironhide's wound together.

"**Where's Bumblebee?" **Ironhide suddenly asked him through their bond.

"**He's with Sam,"** Ratchet answered and then the realization hit him. **"You haven't told her, have you?"**

When Ironhide didn't answer him, Ratchet decided not to say anything else about it. Ironhide's reasoning was justified. It was not going to help her cope any better, but she would understand.

"Why don't you want them to meet her?" Will asked Ironhide, somewhat cautiously. "They know she's here. You can't hide a meteor hitting the Earth the way you guys do," which brought up more questions as to how they were able to do it without causing mass flooding, fiery explosions, and general climate change.

"Yes, but, they don't have to know what she is," Ironhide said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Will wondered.

"Everything," Ironhide was starting to get tired. "For all we know, she's the last femme."

Ratchet desperately hoped not. Optimus would not survive without Elita. Then, what would they do?

"Aren't you all the last of something?" Will stated a little too bluntly. "For all you know, Optimus is the last Prime, Bumblebee is the last youngling, and all four, five now, of you are the last Autobots, not to mention a couple of Decepticons that no one seems to be able to track down, so all of you together may be the last Cybertronians."

Both Ratchet and Ironhide looked at him in shock. Will wanted to disappear into the shelf again. Why did he just say that? He was just so frustrated and getting pressure from both sides, human and Autobot alike, wasn't helping.

"Then you should know that things are hard enough as it is. Look," Ironhide said, "if those Decepticons find out because your people are careless and record it in some 'top secret' computer file somewhere, which is so primitive that it can be hacked by any Cybertronian, then she becomes a target."

Ratchet was sympathetic towards the weapons specialist. He always felt that Ironhide blamed himself for what had happened, that he didn't get there in time.

"Why?" Will asked him. "Why does she become a target? Is it for the same reason that they wanted the AllSpark? Do they want to use her to create life and use them to take over?"

"No," Ratchet this time. "The AllSpark's power was limitless. It could create without end. It is very difficult for one individual femme to create even one life."

"Because," Ironhide almost whispered. "Megatron had all the femmes killed. For all we know, it is still a standing order within the Decepticon ranks. Will, this is important to _me._I'm telling you, as your friend, that as her sparkmate, I do not want to subject her to that."

Ironhide didn't add the fears he had about what the humans were capable of doing. What they had done to Bumblebee was unforgivable. He trusted Will, but he didn't trust that Will's superiors wouldn't try something like that again. There were just way too many variables here.

Will was struck silent. Ironhide had rarely been that straight forward with him. This wasn't about policy at all, as he had originally thought. It was about a husband protecting his wife, or the Cybertronian equivalent of it anyway.

"Is that what happened to the younglings too?" Will asked, using the term for their children that they used.

"Yes," it was Ratchet who answered him.

Will couldn't imagine it. Suddenly, he felt hopeful for the Autobots saying, "Well, then, this is great that she's here, right?" He looked towards Ratchet, "She and Ironhide can do that spark-mating thing you talked about and…"

Ironhide suddenly got up and left the room without a word. Ratchet didn't stop him this time.

"Wait…What? Did I say something wrong?" Will was so confused.

"No, Will. He'll be fine. It's just…complicated," Ratchet said. "You have to understand where he's coming from."

"I'm trying. He never talks about his private life," Will said softly.

"He's a very private mech," Ratchet said. "More so than any Autobot I've ever known. He always has been." Ratchet decided that Will ought to know, so he said to him, "She's been disabled, Will."

Will was shocked into silence yet again.

Ratchet continued, "Sometime during the height of the war, Ironhide spark-bonded with Chromia. I was shocked; we all were. None of us thought that Ironhide would ever want to be bonded in that way. None of us realized how strong they would become either. They were deadly efficient against the Decepticons. They were costing Megatron dearly…"

Will asked, "Is that why they did it?"

Knowing the rumor, Ratchet laughed, "Most mechs do it out of love, but you never know with those two."

Will looked at him questioningly, not getting the joke.

"I'm kidding, Will. Ironhide fell hard for that one. It might be a match made in the Pit, but he couldn't think of anything else until he had had her...There was a period of time when we thought we were finally at peace…"

Will listened, saying nothing. What Ratchet was telling him both horrified and terrified him.

When Ratchet was done with the story, Will wanted to know, "Why do you compare Ironhide with Decepticons?"

In light of what he'd just heard, he would have figured that Ironhide would consider that an insult. Then again, maybe it _was_meant to be an insult and Ironhide just had a better sense of humor than he had originally thought. After dealing with Ironhide for so long, Will figured he knew the answer.

Before Ratchet could respond, Will asked, "I mean, what's the difference?"

"The difference?" Ratchet said. "He loves. It's that simple. Ironhide's capacity for love is greater than any Autobot I know, which makes him more Autobot than any Autobot I know. But, don't tell him I said that."

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Later on that evening, Ironhide drove Will home. Chromia had elected to stay behind this time, getting some much needed recharge. It was a silent ride again, both beings lost in their own thoughts.

"Ratchet told me what happened," Will said softly into the silence.

Ironhide made an irritated growling sound, "Ratchet talks too much."

Will was silent for a moment more and then, "If you ever want to talk about it…"

Ironhide cut him off, snapping, "I've been _living_ with it for eons, I don't need to _talk_ about it."

"I'm really sorry Ironhide," Will continued.

"It's not for you to be sorry," Ironhide said.

Neither one of them spoke another word until they pulled into Will's driveway, Ironhide stopping some distance away from the house.

Will smiled, "You know, I was only kidding when I said to stay away from my house." Ironhide didn't budge.

As Will jumped out of the truck, Ironhide informed him that he would be going back to the Ark. Will figured as much. Colonel Lagier would be getting impatient, but Will decided now wasn't the time to argue about something that had to seem so trivial to Ironhide, especially in light of what he'd just learned about the mech.

Instead, Will asked, "How long?"

"I just…need some time."

"Okay."

Will thought about Ironhide's sense of 'time' as he approached the house. If it were left up to Ironhide, Will just might see him again before he died as an old man. Will turned to say something, but Ironhide was already gone. Well, at least Optimus had a good handle on human time. Will was sure he would remind Ironhide of his assignments.

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Everyone was asleep when Will entered the house. He went to Annabelle's room first. She was sleeping on her stomach, which was her usual choice of sleeping positions. Will brushed her long sandy-blonde hair from out of her face. He then leaned down and kissed her cheek. The baby's room was right next to him and Sarah's, where he found himself next. He listened to Matt's breathing for awhile and then kissed him on the forehead.

When he entered the bedroom, he saw that Sarah's bedside light was still on. She had fallen asleep while reading. He sat down on the bed and pulled the book from her fingers, closing it, and setting it on the bedside table. She awoke with his touch and smiled upon seeing him.

"Hey, Will," she stretched and yawned. "You have got to explain to Ironhide what 'early' means." Her smile faded when she finally opened her eyes to look at him. She sat up,  
"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Will said after a moment.

She reached out and caressed his face, "I know you better than that."

He leaned in and kissed her passionately on the lips. She accepted, returning the kiss.

"I'm just…glad we're all here," Will said as he embraced her, thankful for everything that he had.

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**A/N**: Just a warning…things are about to get a little serious…

Karategal: what you are waiting for is next. Ya-hoo!

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	8. Yellow Streak

(posted Nov. 18, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 7: **lady tecuma, flamingmarsh, theshadowcat, twospotz, Bluebird Soaring, Blume, staringsideways, Karategal, ferretsareillegal, MadameSoybean, grlwdgrntrk, plenoptic, ArmoredSoul, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Xerios, Lecidre, Freakish Child, ****Ponta Pie, Bunnylass, Iluvbee1990, 1bloodtempest, **and **Shizuka Taiyou****.**

Thanks for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: Bluebird Soaring **

**[Story Alert]: the sadistic homicidal child, Drunken-Lullabies **

**[Favorite Author]: BumbleBaka, naria-satome **

**[Author Alert]: BumbleBaka, KrazieKat**

This is so fun!

Huge thanks to **Karategal **for letting me use her idea of Ironhide having been Bumblebee's caretaker from her stories **'Youngling'** and **'Little Brother,' **as well as the Artemis I reference. Thanks also to **lady tecuma** for the continuing reference of this idea from her story **'Sparks and Plasma,' **as well as the reference to Floatila, as she has coined that name for the Youth Sectors. I added an 'l' by mistake, spelling it 'Floatilla,' but kept it as such to delineate between the two stories. The name, however, is still hers.

The idea that a femme or a mech can carry a sparkling in her/his chassis after the sparkling receives a frame (read Chapter 8 for more) is completely mine. I must apologize to my other favorite authors here; I just don't like the bottle thing. I LOVE your stories and the bottle thing is working for you, but I wanted something more sci-fi and not so human. The femme pre-program described here as well as the femme/ youngling bond is also my idea.

**NOTE**: When talking about sparklings, I'm using the 'he' gender. It was getting too confusing using 'he/she,' so I decided that, since most Cybertronian sparklings end up being a 'he' anyway, that I'd stick with 'he' on that.

Things are a bit serious at the moment. It had to happen, though. This is the story I wanted to tell. It is just a LOT to tell and chapter organization is giving me fits. Sorry if some of this is a bit cryptic. It's all going to come together...

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 8

Yellow Streak

by Litahatchee

Chromia lay on the recharge berth, staring at the ceiling. It felt good to be back in a familiar place, but she couldn't sleep. She had only one thing on her mind: Ironhide. He hadn't been gone that long, by Cybertronian standards, but she felt like an eternity had passed. Now it was her turn to be constantly reaching out to _him_. He responded every time, but he seemed withdrawn and he had ignored all her efforts to flirt.

"Thanks a lot, Ratchet," she said to the ceiling.

She sat up and stared at the contents of Ironhide's room. There were data chips scattered about, mostly on weapons and, she noted, a few on human weapons. She laughed at some of his comments on how primitive and useless most of them were, except the sabot rounds. He had an entire chip on those and the damage they can cause to a Cybertronian.

There were a few spare parts lying on a table for his cannons. She idly wondered where he got them. It was very difficult to find spare parts for Ironhide's cannons, for any part of Ironhide for that matter. He should have been retired a long time ago. But then, she figured, Ironhide could probably never truly retire. He loved making the Decepticons suffer; they both did.

Chromia's optics wondered to a single twin berth in the corner of the room. Most of the rooms on the ship had extra bunks that folded up into the wall, but this one was out and, by the looks of it, had been out for a long time. It was as if there was a regular visitor.

Everyone had their own rooms, so she idly wondered who visited Ironhide on such a regular basis that he would have a berth ready for him at all times. She went through everyone on the 'list.' It was way too small for Optimus, and Ratchet would surely want to kill the mech if he spent too much time with him, so no on Optimus and Ratchet. She thought about Jazz and sadly averted her gaze. She could see that mech coming in there to talk Ironhide's irritated head off and then promptly passing out, after drinking way too much energon. She found it sad and oddly sentimental for Ironhide to keep it out for him, as if he were coming back.

Chromia figured the humans were gone by now, not that she was avoiding them. Well, she _was _avoiding them, but not for the reasons Ironhide wanted her to avoid them. She didn't care a thing about what they did or didn't want. She was amazed that everyone was humoring them so. They didn't live long enough for her to waste her time humoring them. They were just organics, sentient organics, but still only so.

She thought about Will's family. Well, she wouldn't mind spending more time with _them_…Okay, so if all human younglings were _that _adorable, then maybe she could spare a small joor entertaining them.

Chromia walked out into the hallway. The ship was just so _empty_. She wondered if there would ever be any other Cybertronians to walk these hallways again.

She stopped to listen…It was just as quiet as all those vorns, dozens of vorns, drifting out in space. Depression threatening to overtake her, she picked up the pace towards Optimus's office. He had been looking for her ever since her arrival, so she figured reporting in now would be good; maybe even good for both of them, though she really didn't have very good news on what she was sure he truly wanted to know.

Suddenly out of nowhere, she didn't even hear a sound of his approach, a yellow streak ran headlong right into her, nearly knocking her down. His arms were full of something and, upon collision, dozens of little square cases full of round discs went flying in all directions. Chromia immediately bent down to help him pick them all up.

"Primus, Ratchet," she said to him, assuming the mech that collided with her was Ratchet. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

She inspected one of the cases. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before and didn't look like something a medic would have use for.

"What are these things, Ratch…"

She looked up and Ratchet's name caught in her vocals. Before her, still picking up the cases without having looked up, was a mech she had never seen before. She gasped when her maternal pre-programming kicked in as her spark responded to his presence.

All femmes were pre-programmed to care for all younglings, even if it wasn't theirs. This was how the AllSpark was able to produce sparklings and have caretakers for them. It wasn't the same as a bond between a sparkling and its creators; it wasn't as strong. However, there was an innate response program in a femme's spark that called for the nourishment of a youngling. In this way, the youngling was assured of survival.

Chromia jumped up, dropping the cases to the floor, "Dear Primus!" A dozen emotions swept through her as she became filled with great joy.

Bumblebee only had one thing on his mind: to get these CD's to Sam. He didn't know who he had run into, and he didn't hear them speaking, but he started explaining himself immediately, as if he had been doing something wrong.

"Sam wanted me to download all this music from the Internet. He said it's not illegal if I do it, since I'm an alien and all, and he figures the laws don't apply to me. Besides, I can download them much faster than he can anyway."

The youngling was talking so fast, but Chromia had no idea who Sam was, and cared even less about human laws. She just stood there, staring at him, her disbelief paralyzing her. He was younger than any of the younglings from Floatilla would have been by this time, so he had to come after that, but, by Primus, from where?

There were two types of younglings on Cybertron; younglings from a bonded pair and younglings from the AllSpark. She could tell right away that he had bonded creators. He was not an AllSpark youngling. She could also tell that he had been carried as a sparkling, another trait that did not come with an AllSpark youngling.

A sparkling from a bonded pair developed directly from the femme's spark, upon completion of spark-mating, staying connected to her spark, protected in her spark casing, until he was strong enough to receive a frame. As such, a sparkling from a bonded pair was already predisposed to being 'carried.' In this way, a sparkling could be nurtured by residing in either one of his creators' chassis. This was called 'carrying.'

Carrying was usually done for two vorns, after the sparkling received his first frame, until the sparkling was strong enough to take his own energon. There was a special port on the bottom of each creator's spark-casing that connected the sparkling directly to his creators' sparks, via a special cord that the sparkling would lose once the carrying was done. The sparkling would snuggle up to his creator's spark-casing and take what he needed, all the while both the carrier and the carried bonding lovingly.

Both the femme and the mech creator developed this port, upon spark-mating, and could nourish their sparkling this way. This task was usually shared because the sparkling usually demanded a lot of energy from his creators' sparks. There were other, artificial, nutrient methods that some creators opted to use, especially if they wanted to start the sparkling out with a bigger frame.

Chromia's preferred method was to carry a sparkling. She always felt that Ironhide's temperament was associated with him having not been carried for long enough, if ever. Bots who had been carried also tended to be healthier. Depending on resources and function, the sparkling could be outfitted with a bigger frame once the carrying was done.

Chromia glanced around as if someone with the answers was going to show up at any moment. As the youngling stood up, she realized he was shorter than she was. She felt renewed intensity in her spark and, without warning, his spark latched onto it. She barely had the awareness to resist the urge to cradle him in her arms.

Bumblebee looked up for the first time and dropped all the CD cases again. They clanked to the floor loudly, but he didn't bend to pick them up this time. He just stood there, staring at…What? What was it? What stood before him was…the most beautiful being he had ever seen.

He felt a tug from its spark and his suddenly latched onto the feeling. He wanted to jump into its motherly arms. He barely had the awareness to resist doing so.

Chromia was the first one to finally be able to speak. "Hey," was all she could think to say.

"Hey," he said back to her.

"Where..." she choked on her words. "Where did you come from?"

He wanted to know the same thing of her...Bumblebee knew where he came from. The AllSpark had told him that much, but he wasn't certain that anyone else knew, and his creator certainly didn't know that he knew, so he answered the question with some caution.

"Um, well, I don't know. Uh, Optimus found me?" He ended that last part as if it were a question, shrugging his shoulders.

Chromia didn't notice. She actually found that she really didn't care. What mattered was that he was here now.

"What's your name?" she asked him next.

"Bumblebee," he answered. He didn't have a mouth, but his wide blue optics were full of wonderment.

Dear Primus, he was so adorable, she couldn't stand it. She took a step towards him, not realizing she had done so.

He was a very healthy youngling. It looked like he might have been carried for well over two vorns, whether out of love or protection, she had no idea, but probably both. Though she had witnessed several Decepticons dying for the price of being sparkbonded, she didn't feel he came from one. He was way too good-natured for that. Most sparklings from bonded pairs became Autobots anyway. She attributed that fact to the love and nourishment they received. Someone had loved this mech very much. His creators had to be Autobots.

"What are you?" Bumblebee asked as he tried to understand why he wanted to allow this being to hold onto him forever.

"What _am _I?" Chromia laughed. All humor melted away as she realized the gravity of his question. Primus, they really _were_ going to become extinct.

"Have you never seen a femme bot before?" she asked tentatively, afraid of his answer, but knowing the truth all too well.

"N-no," he stammered. "The others speak of them, but…" Bumblebee searched his memory files as he tried to decide if he'd ever actually seen one before.

"Well, I might have when I was created, but I don't remember that…and there was this time on _Artemis I _when I think a few were there, but I was really little…and I might have fought beside one one time, but I was injured and I don't remember too much of what happened." In fact, sometimes when he told the story of his involvement to distract Megatron from the launching of the AllSpark, a femme was present and other times when he told the story, one was not. It was such a crazy time. A lot was happening. This, however, was the first time he _really_ looked, the first time it _truly_ registered.

The youngling was talking fast again. Something about him was familiar, but Chromia couldn't quite place it. Since he wasn't sure what a femme was, he obviously didn't remember his femme creator. Perhaps it was the mech creator who had carried him. It made her sad to think what might have happened to him. She wondered if the carrier died or if he had to abandon the little bot in order to protect him. Someone who had loved him that much would never have abandoned him willingly. Either way, this bot was probably having some separation issues.

"Who are you?" Bumblebee asked her next.

Chromia hadn't realized that she hadn't introduced herself, saying, "Oh! I'm Chromia. I'm Ironhide's sparkmate."

"Ironhide has a sparkmate?!" Bumblebee jumped in utter surprise.

Ironhide never told Bumblebee he had a sparkmate. Ironhide…has…a…sparkmate. The old, crabby, gruff, trigger-happy, soldier with a sparkmate seemed…odd. Yet, here a femme stood before him; Ironhide's sparkmate. He wasn't entirely sure what that meant and what it entailed, but he knew Optimus had a sparkmate and that Optimus was suffering due to their separation. Bumblebee was suddenly sad to think that his guardian had been suffering, but he brightened again because she was here now.

Chromia wondered why Ironhide hadn't mentioned something as important as a surviving youngling to her. She remembered the waiting twin berth in Ironhide's room...

"Do you visit Ironhide often?" she asked him.

"Ironhide's my guardian," he answered cheerfully and proudly. He was utterly excited that Ironhide had a sparkmate.

A hollow feeling crept into Chromia's spark. "Since when?" she asked next.

"Since I can remember," he said. "My whole life, I think."

Chromia's spark sank as she realized a very dark truth; Bumblebee was old enough to have been around well before the quest of the AllSpark began, before her and Ironhide's separation. She knew immediately that Bumblebee was not Ironhide's. Besides, that would have been impossible without her. He was more like Optimus than any other mech she knew. More like Optimus…

She didn't have time to analyze this thought as she tried to process what was happening. Her happiness at discovering a surviving youngling was replaced by something else entirely as it sank in that her sparkmate had never told her, that he hadn't included her, that he didn't even ask for her help.

Bumblebee couldn't contain his excitement. He didn't understand why Ironhide had never told him about her, but he didn't care. He had a family!

Without warning, the youngling shot strait at Chromia, wrapping his arms around her. Her spark rejoiced at his unexpected, but welcome, embrace. But, before she could return the gesture, he disengaged, looking somewhat embarrassed, and then took off past her down the hallway, transforming into a yellow Camaro with black stripes. In his excitement, he left all the CD's on the floor.

Chromia watched, with wide optics, the retreating Camaro. When he rounded a corner and was out of sight, she reached down to pick up all the curious little cases, thoughts of what her sparkmate had kept from her threatening to cripple her.

888888888888888

Ironhide walked into the room, fully intending to ask Chromia why she never told him that their joinings were hurting her. It was bothering him immensely. Instead, he was met by Chromia's blazing plasma cannon on her shoulder. She shoved him up against the wall, pointing the cannon right at the optic on the bad side of his face.

"I should just shoot you right here," she said to him, her anger seeping into his spark.

Ratchet was the only other bot, besides herself, that knew he was blind in this optic. Again, finding replacement parts for Ironhide was an issue. Since he was blind in it, she figured he wouldn't miss it.

"What…" was all he could get out before she rolled out the cannon on her arm and shoved it below his abdomen, right against his interfacing port. Since _she_ no longer had one, he had no use for _his_. Ironhide jumped up strait against the wall. Chromia was not playing games. He thought about what Will said about how they shouldn't be allowed to have guns. 'Primus, maybe Will was right!' he thought to himself.

"Whoa! Chromia?!" he yelled. "What's wrong?!"

"Why didn't you tell me!" she practically wailed at him.

"Tell you?!" he got out before she shoved him harder, the cannon on her arm pressing ever so much more uncomfortably against his port. His pump literally stopped for a second as he realized she must be talking about Bumblebee.

"Start talking," she threatened.

He just stared at her dumbly as he tried to think of the best way to 'start talking.'

"That file in your familial directory," she continued, "is about the youngling, isn't it?" Something caught in her throat, "He was here, Hide! He told me you raised him!"

She suddenly pushed off of him, subspacing her weapons, and started pacing the room. He relaxed, if only a little.

Oh Primus, he hadn't wanted her to find out this way. He wanted to tell her himself when the time was right, though he didn't really know when that was. There was no way he could keep Bumblebee hidden. He didn't need to protect him any more. He was practically an adult now…and with only four mechs on ship, she was bound to notice him sooner or later.

"Optimus brought him to me after he found him," Ironhide said to her.

"Well, if Optimus found him, then why didn't he just take care of him?" she turned around and asked him.

"He didn't think he could protect and hide him as well as I could," Ironhide answered. "Bumblebee was already a target, being associated with Prime would have made him even more so."

"You raised him from a sparkling. He is older than our separation. You had him before we were separated!" Chromia just couldn't believe it. She really couldn't. How could Ironhide do this to her?

"Yes," was all he could say. Bumblebee had been in his care _well_ before their separation. He didn't know what to do. He had wanted to tell her; he could hardly stand that he had to keep such a secret.

Chromia reared back and punched him as hard as she could, causing a new dent in the already bad side of his face. He didn't make a sound. He didn't even grunt in pain. The force of it pushed his head to the side and he just hung it there, shuddering his optics, sadness threatening to overtake him. He deserved it, he really did. He didn't know if she could forgive him.

"I needed him, Chromia," he whispered.

If she hadn't already punched him so hard, she would have punched him after _that_ statement. It was the worst thing he ever could have said to her after all they'd been through. Now she was just spark-broken.

"Didn't you think that I might have needed him too, you Pit-spawned selfish fragger?!"

Ironhide turned to her now, "I wanted to tell you, Chromia. Oh Primus, I desperately wanted to tell you! I wanted to share him with you. I wanted you to help me. I was…" he hesitated. "Afraid…" this coming out as a whisper. "He's the last one! I couldn't…" he hesitated again. "For the sake of Cybertron… I couldn't take the risk."

No, no, _that _was the worse thing Ironhide could have said to her. At this point, she no longer had the strength to even glare at him. She no longer had the strength to do anything. Her mind became numb and Chromia suddenly found that her legs were too weak to hold her up. She slowly lowered herself to the edge of the berth, her disbelief, her pain, her grief, her horror showing on her face and spilling out of her spark.

Chromia lowered her gaze to the floor, trying desperately to block it all out. **He** was still taking things from them, after all this time. She couldn't believe that it could be happening so indirectly. Now **he** had taken Ironhide's trust from her as well. Anger and hatred seeped into her emotions. She hated **him. **She hated all of them. She wanted to rush out, find anyone that remained of them, and rip their armor plating off, piece by painful piece.

Ironhide read her perfectly. "I trust you, Chromia," he said, kneeling down next to the berth in front of her, and buried his head in her lap. "Please understand that I trust you. I was trying to protect you both."

The truth was, Ironhide couldn't assure himself that he could prevent it all from happening again. He hadn't been able to protect her then; he hadn't been able to protect either one of them. Bumblebee was his second chance. He protected him at all costs and the bot was still alive. There was no way that he could handle this alone, yet he hid the one thing that could have made her happy, because of his fear.

His spark grew cold as he realized that **he** was winning. **He **had instilled such a fear in Ironhide that he would lose everyone that he loved…

A new fear gripped him. Was it possible that he could loose her outside of death? Hatred found its way into his spark. He wanted to rush out, find anyone that remained of them, and rip their armor plating off, piece by painful piece.

The shock and hurt and horror that Ironhide could feel through their bond was one of the most painful things he had to endure. He tried to embrace her, but she shoved him away.

"Don't touch me," she warned harshly, grief threatening to overpower her in all its crippling horror.

"I couldn't say 'no,' Chromia," Ironhide said painfully. "I just...couldn't."

A coldness gripped her spark of the likes that she'd felt only once in her entire life, "You're trying to replace him."

Ironhide quickly looked up at her, "I'm not trying to replace anybody!"

"I'm not talking about just _anybody_, Ironhide!" she cried.

Despair and woe swept across his features as he looked away from her. Chromia couldn't handle it anymore. She had to get out of there!

Ironhide tried to grab her as she suddenly jumped up and headed for the door. She dodged him nimbly and he was left to sorrow alone.

**He** was winning. She wasn't dead, but, somehow, inexplicably, **he** was winning anyway...

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* * *

**A/N**: I thought I'd explain the Bumblebee bad memory a bit more. I did this because I noticed a discrepancy in the prequel comic and the Wal-Mart special, lazy ass, cartoon that came with the movie (if you bought it at Wal-Mart). So, in the actual comic prequel, Bumblebee is fighting beside Arcee. However, in that lazy cartoon they did, which was nothing more than taking snapshots of the comic prequel, Arcee was omitted entirely. I figured that since BB is telling the story each time, he must have glitch in his memory. Plus it works for me, so I went with it. I LOVE fan fiction!

Forgive all the maternal stuff. I couldn't come up with anything else, but I figure the pre-programming could still be considered 'maternal.'

I sure do thank you for all the reviews given thus far. Again, I LOVE fan fiction! It is way more fulfilling than I imagined...

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	9. The Floatilla Massacre

(posted Nov. 22, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Many thanks to the **REVIEWERS** of ch. 8: **flamingmarsh, lady tecuma, Yenasira, theshadowcat, Karategal, Bluebird Soaring, Fae Child19, Blume, MadameSoybean, ferretsareillegal, ArmoredSoul, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Xerios, Lecidre, Bunnylass, Iluvbee1990, 1bloodtempest, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.**

Thanks for adding my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: lady tecuma, jainga, skyhorn**

**[Story Alert]: Coldpaws**

You guys made my day!

**CREDITS**: Okay, flushing a sparkling's tanks is like changing a baby's diaper. This is 100 percent **Karategal's** idea. I am using the same term **lady tecuma **came up with for the Youth Sectors: Floatilla. However, I added an "L." I am taking a direct reference to both **Karategal's** and **lady tecuma's **ideas on the Youth Sectors/Floatila, even combining the ideas. The idea that a sparkmate dies upon the death of his/her mate is from **Hearts of Eternity**. These ideas are used with permission. You can find their amazing stories on my favorites list on my biopage.

**WARNING**: Prepare yourselves...character death, non-consensual situations...Very sad! I'm sorry! OMG folks. This chapter ain't funny at all. I am REALLY nervous about submitting this one. I have no idea how this is going to be received and I have been debating on how to go about it for a month now. I am really happy about all my faithful readers and I hope I don't lose you here. Personally, I think the story of the Transformers is a sad one. A culture that destroys itself almost to extinction through war? Come on, that is truly horrible. This chapter was extremely difficult to write for many reasons and it's a long one.

**NOTE**: There is a reference to the AllSpark here that some may wonder how it is possible, since Optimus restricted access to it when the war started, according to some. Don't burn me yet, as there will be an explanation in the next chapter. In this fic, the war started as control over the planet, control for the AllSpark coming as soon as it could be used to help take control over the planet.

_Italics text_ is a flashback. **Bold text** is personal transmissions, except for the enigmatic **he.**

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 9

The Floatilla Massacre

by Litahatchee

Chromia drove across the desert until she couldn't drive anymore. Literally, as she came across a shear cliff face where the Earth seemed to suddenly fall away. She transformed and sat on the edge of it, watching lights of various cities twinkling from a hundred miles away. Any other time, she would have thought this was beautiful.

She felt a tug on her spark. Ironhide was looking for her. She sent a hateful shock in response. If he showed his aft here, she was going to shoot his knee armor off.

She involuntarily rubbed the back of her neck as the memories, refusing to be repressed, pushed themselves to the front of her thoughts. What she remembered most about it was the cold, viciousness of **his** presence. There was not a single merciful circuit in **his** body. **He** was cruel, **he** was ruthless, and **he **utterly enjoyed her pain, even deriving pleasure from it. She remembered Ironhide's panic…

She tried deleting it again. It had been awhile since she even bothered, but she tried again now. She had managed to delete some details, but, for the most part, the memory refused to go away. At one point in time, she had even gone to Ratchet to get the entire memory chip removed. He had refused. There was a huge difference in merely deleting a part of a memory chip and having the entire chip completely removed...

**He **had taken everything, forcefully downloading all her memories, all her knowledge, all her secrets, everything in her CPU. Since she was bonded to Ironhide, she knew everything Ironhide knew, so, in affect, everything in her CPU included everything in Ironhide's CPU. And since Ironhide was the personal weapons specialist of Optimus Prime, **he **was, in effect, able to acquire anything that Prime had entrusted to Ironhide. Needless to say, the Autobots would have paid dearly from the information **he **was able to download from Chromia. That was until **he** had found an even better prize, but it was Chromia's knowledge that led **him** to _her_.

Tapping was a heinous crime involving the non-consensual download of any part of a Cybertronian's CPU. It was accomplished by a forceful interface to the back of the neck. It became a method widely used by the Decepticons during the war, but had never been done to a femme. There were other things preferred from a femme, unfortunately. Though this particular mech might have enjoyed a little of that too, instead of going for her body, **he **went straight for her mind. Chromia sometimes found herself wondering if tapping was a lot worse than a forced frame interface. Thank Primus she didn't have anything to compare it to, but she believed it was. Maybe it was the way **he **had done it. Chromia had been the first femme on Cybertron who had ever been tapped.

"Damn you," she said bitterly out loud. "Damn you to Pit."

Chromia looked up at the stars as she thought about the second, "Where are you?" She really needed a friend right now.

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"_When Optimus gets back, we're going to try for a sparkling," Elita said to Chromia, her giddiness hard to miss. _

_They were on their way to Floatilla to visit Moonracer. She had just gotten a sparkling from the AllSpark._

_The war had come to a stalemate, with neither side able to claim victory. Over four vorns before, almost five, Megatron had called for a cease of arms. Everyone was shocked and suspicious, Optimus especially, but, as the vorns passed on, the relative peace seemed to be real. Sure, there were the normal little spats caused by the Decepticons, but they were quickly extinguished, usually by Megatron himself. He was slowly gaining some trust, but Optimus felt he was up to something. He didn't know what, but he was ever watchful for it. _

_Megatron called for an Autobot/Decepticon assembly to be held at Kaon. They would discuss terms of peace and a peace treaty would be finalized. Megatron's only stipulation was that all essential mechs of both the Autobot and Decepticon factions had to be present. Optimus wanted to believe it was real. He even allowed himself to believe it. However, this made all kinds of warning sirens go off in Optimus's CPU. If Megatron was looking for a final battle in hopes of victory, then the Autobots would be ready for it. Megatron was mistaken if he thought he was luring the Autobots into a trap. _

_Optimus had agreed to the meeting, but not the location. He didn't think it ought to be held at the Autobot city of Iacon or the Decepticon city of Kaon. Instead, he thought they ought to meet at a more neutral city. Megatron conceded, picking a neutral city, but one that was close to Kaon. Still unsure of whether or not it was an ambush, the Autobots prepared themselves for it, either way._

_Shortly after the war started, Optimus established a sanctuary for all femmes, sparklings and younglings, to include any displaced sparklings or younglings and non-combatant families. He chose the floating city of Floatilla because it was off-planet and supposedly safe from any and all combat happening on the planet surface. Both the Autobot and Decepticon factions valued this plan, as each saw fit to send their younglings and non-combatant femmes there; the Floatilla Youth Sectors had been born. _

_Both the Autobot and Decepticon femmes united under one goal; to protect their young. Because of this, a new Neutral faction was soon created as well. Floatilla was guarded by a few Autobots and Neutrals that had been raised there. However, no one ever bothered the city, so the defenses were lax. Chromia took a mental note of this as they entered the city. _

"_Do you really think we'll have lasting peace?" Chromia asked Elita. They both knew the suspicions, but, like all Autobots, they wanted to believe lasting peace was possible. _

"_I hope so," Elita replied._

"_I hope so too," Chromia almost whispered._

"_Do you want a sparkling?" Elita asked her next. _

_Chromia smiled warmly and opened her mouth to say something, but Elita cut her off._

"_Oh yea," Elita said as if she had forgotten something. "You're bonded to Ironhide. If you ever spark-mated with him, that poor youngling wouldn't know where his loyalties lay. He'd be a new sort of Cybertronian, an Autocon… or a Deceptibot... You're better off to follow Moonracer's example and just get one from the AllSpark." Elita never missed an opportunity to jab her friend about her choice in mechs. _

"_Elita?!" Chromia had to laugh. Elita's never ending comments were starting to get amusing. Chromia never knew what that femme might say next._

_Elita didn't stop there, "You and Ironhide have way too much fun fighting the Decepticons. You probably have spare parts for you plasma cannons lying everywhere in your domicile; no telling what other kind of weaponry. Having a sparkling in there would no doubt be disastrous."  
_

"_Oh, come on, Elita. We don't leave them lying around," Chromia said._

_Elita had been joking about the parts, but had often wondered if they did, in fact, keep such things in their room with them. She stared wide-optic'd at her friend, as Chromia had just confirmed her suspicions. Chromia laughed. _

_Elita continued, "I bet Ironhide secretly wishes we were still fighting. You two probably don't know what to do with yourselves."_

_She had Chromia laughing so hard that she was sure Chromia would burst a circuit. There must have been some truth to that statement._

_Several giggling younglings ran in front of them as they walked. Still laughing, Chromia watched them as they played together. _

_Elita seemed to be finding no end, "I can't see Ironhide flushing a sparkling's tanks." Chromia just smiled as Elita continued, "I can't even imagine Optimus doing it. Well, it's a good thing they have us, right? They'll never have to do that alone_…_Yup, if the population of Cybertron depended on you and Ironhide, we might as well give up right now!" Elita exclaimed, thoroughly enjoying her babbling at the expense of her best friend, who was never offended by anything Elita said to her, no matter how outlandish. She and Chromia were as close as friends got._

_Unable to get a word in edgewise, Chromia reached over and gently grabbed Elita's arm. It was so unexpected that Elita finally stopped talking._

"_I have something I want to show you," Chromia said to her softly, that same warm smile crossing her faceplates again._

_Suddenly, sirens rang out throughout the city. Startled, both femmes exchanged fearful glances. Chromia reached out to Ironhide immediately. _

---

_Optimus, Jazz, Prowl, Ironhide, and Ratchet sat next to each other with the rest of the Autobots behind them. They hardly recognized the Decepticons on the other side of the room. Where was Soundwave? Even Starscream was suspiciously absent. Most of all, where was Megatron?_

_Without warning, the room erupted in massive explosions as the present Decepticons opened fire on the Autobots. Thinking, and hoping, this would be the final decisive battle of the war, Optimus ordered the counter-attack. They were all ready for it. _

_Ironhide happily dispatched two Decepticons at once. He was hoping for this. They would learn that the Autobots could no longer be deceived. _

_Optimus noticed Ironhide's feral grin as he opened fire with his massive cannons. It concerned Optimus that the mech was actually enjoying this. _

_Ironhide's demeanor changed as he felt Chromia reaching out to him._

"_**I'm kinda in the middle of a battle here,"**__ he transmitted through their personal link._

"_**The Decepticons are attacking Floatilla!"**__ Chromia sent back frantically._

_Ironhide felt his spark go cold. He knew she and Elita were going there to see Moonracer, but he wasn't sure if she was there at the moment or not._

"_**Where are you now?"**__ he asked her next, fearful of the answer. _

"_**I'm at Floatilla!"**_

_Ironhide and Chromia were virtually unstoppable, but they had to be TOGETHER. Chromia was formidable on her own, but she could be overpowered by shear size or numbers. Ironhide headed towards the exit as he turned to Optimus. It was apparent that Elita had already transmitted to him. _

_Optimus looked like any leader would after discovering a huge tactical error. Optimus had already felt that Megatron's intent was not to negotiate peace. He had been certain that Megatron was luring them to this gathering for a surprise attack. He went along with it, confident they could defeat the Decepticons once and for all. However, there was no way he could have predicted that the true intent was to attack Floatilla. _

_Optimus ordered the Autobots to fall back as he realized the present Decepticons were not posing much of a threat. The intention had obviously been to distract the Autobots. _

_Now Optimus understood why Megatron wanted the meeting to be held so close to Kaon. The Autobots needed to get to Floatilla, but it was above a neutral city, near Iacon, which was on the __**other **__side of the planet. Megatron had indeed planned this out well, too well. It would take even Optimus's fastest soldiers a long time to get there. What he didn't understand was why Megatron would attack Floatilla. It was a city full of innocents. There were only a few armed guards. What would he accomplish by defeating it? His spark grew cold as he imagined Megatron forcing the younglings into servitude._

---

"_They're coming! They're coming!" Elita shouted as the first volley of missiles bombarded the city. However, both Elita and Chromia knew the Autobots were going to be too late. Along with dozens of femmes and younglings, they ran for cover. _

_The Decepticons attacked without mercy. They knew exactly what to do first; take out all the guards, which was done with ease. As soon as that was accomplished, they were free to bring death to anything that moved. Everyone was a target. There was not a single femme, sparkling, or youngling that was spared. Every femme that could fight did so to the death, any sparkling she was protecting following brutally. Not even the Decepticon femmes were spared, fighting honorably, but, in the end, losing out, not understanding why they were being betrayed as they died. Many younglings were even able to throw damaging blows, but were soon overthrown as the fighting became more intense. _

_Chromia and Elita were somewhat successful as they fought side by side. Several femmes joined them, Moonracer included, who was overcome with grief as she had lost her sparkling. _

"_Why is this happening?!" Moonracer cried as they were able to rescue several younglings from a brutal end and were now surrounding them protectively. _

_Chromia was transmitting to Ironhide frantically, her spark's urgency driving him on. He kept telling her they were coming and to hold on._

"…_**please hold on."**_

_A Decepticon femme joined their little group as they gathered more unprotected younglings in the chaos, betrayal and fear written all over her face. _

"_If we get out of this alive," she said to them, "I swear to Primus I'm going to join the Autobots." _

_Chromia gave her a pained smile. If they got out of this alive, she could tell that she was going to like this femme._

_Out of nowhere, several Decepticons attacked them at once. They fought furiously, Elita taking one down with a shot to the knee and Chromia getting another with a well-aimed shot to the armpit. Screaming in agony as he fell to the ground, energon exploded from the main line under his arm. The Decepticon femme managed to wrench the gun from the shoulder of yet another attacker, neither Elita nor Chromia having time to be impressed. Moonracer, however, took a fatal blow to the energon line in her neck. There was no time to mourn her as she lay dying, when more Decepticons attacked them, the younglings screaming in fear. Several of them took off, running away from the group and Elita took off after them, ineffectively reining them back in. _

_Neither Chromia nor the Decepticon femme realized that the attackers were not aiming for them. They were aiming for the younglings, and they were winning. Chromia's anguished battle cries could be heard throughout the plaza as she and the femme were able to take down a few more. Both femmes were battle torn, energon streaming from their wounds, and weary as they realized they were down to only two. _

_They were surrounded. There was absolutely no chance. Chromia brought her hands up to caress her chassis as she sent every bit of love she had for Ironhide to him through their bond, sure this was it, but slightly comforted that they would be reunited in the Matrix. Perhaps he would live for awhile without her, but once a sparkmate was dead, the other followed. _

_A new Decepticon joined the party, "I would kill you now, but Megatron has further use for you."_

"_What?" was all Chromia could manage to say before the Cons pounced on them. It took three Decepticons to bind her, but not before she was able to cause extensive damage to all of them._

"_Primus Blackout," one of them said to the one that had spoken to the two femmes. "This one is feisty." _

---

_Elita watched as the Decepticon called Blackout seemed to be gathering all the bondeds. Every Cybertronian knew a bonded when they saw one. There was a tell-tale mark on the chassis of every Cybertronian who had a sparkmate, usually the color of the mech/femme that he/she was bonded to. It was barely noticeable, but all Cybertronians recognized it. _

_Having had been able to elude capture and now was effectively hidden, Elita gasped when she saw Chromia among the captured. What would they be doing with spark-bonded femmes? _

_Elita transmitted her hidden location to Chromia through the link in their bond and Chromia responded, telling her not to try anything stupid, such as a rescue. Chromia was already looking for any chance to make a run for it, but an attempted rescue from Elita would only get Elita captured as well. Chromia encouraged Elita to escape, but Elita could not, as the city was surrounded. She felt like every Decepticon on Cybertron was there._

_The bonded femmes were herded to the main plaza of the city, Elita following them every step of the way. Fear crept into each of their minds as they saw __**him.**__ They had no idea what __**he**__ was going to do, but, after the previous attack, they feared the worst. Once they were all there, __**he **__launched into a speech about how weak they all were and how weak their mech counterparts were for bonding with them. __**He **__was going to rid Cybertron of this weakness, once and for all, and __**he**__ was going to see to it __**himself**__. _

_There wasn't a single femme who wasn't transmitting to her mech at that moment._

_Elita reached out to Optimus in shear panic, __**"Optimus, Megatron is HERE!"**_

---

_Ironhide was gripped with panicked fear as Chromia's love overwhelmed him. He was certain it meant that she was about to meet her end, but he was relieved when her death did not come. He sped up as fast as his alternate mode could carry him._

_Optimus and the other larger mechs had never been known for their speed, Ironhide included. Optimus had sent all the fastest Autobots ahead, but even they weren't fast enough. _

_Suddenly, several of his bonded soldiers stopped dead in their tracks, losing their will to move on. Losing a sparkmate was the most physical and emotional pain a Cybertronian could feel. Many of them were clutching their chests, screaming in agony. The others were confused at first, but Optimus, Ironhide, and every other bonded mech among them was soon faced with reality as their femme counterparts transmitted what was happening to them. Optimus's spark went out to them, as fear for his own mate drove him. She was still safely hidden, but it was only a matter of time before they found her in their searching sweep of the city. _

_Ironhide's alarm returned as it became apparent that Chromia was among the captured. He continued to transmit to her, begging Primus for more time..._

---

_Megatron eliminated them one by one, using his signature method of ripping out their sparks, purging the Cybertronian race of what he kept repeatedly calling their 'weakness.' No one was spared. The Decepticon femmes cursed betrayal at him, but Megatron was unfazed. Even their mates had been deceived, for they were among the Decepticons that were distracting the Autobots, fully unaware of Megatron's plan. _

_He grabbed another Decepticon femme next. Both Elita and Chromia recognized her as the one who had helped them. As Megatron lifted her up, a Decepticon stepped out of his ranks, falling to his knees before Megatron, begging him to spare her. Megatron looked on him with disgust and some measure of surprise. He hadn't realized that Deluge had taken a mate. Deluge had even offered some help in the planning of this attack. He was mistaken if he had thought his help would assure his bonded's protection. Without hesitation, Megatron pulled the Decepticon to his feet and plunged his clawed hand into his chest… _

_He let the femme go; allowing her to cradle her dead bonded's head in her hands. She would be dead soon enough..._

_Megatron turned to his soldiers, "Anyone else?"_

_Some looked at the ground, while others shook their heads in fear, and others just took a step back. Megatron surely had gone mad. Some Decepticons agreed with what he was doing, while others did not. Starscream definitely did not agree; Megatron was dooming the entire race! No one dared to disagree with Megatron outwardly, though, as they knew they would find death if they did. _

---

_Chromia was trying to keep her head down in the hopes that no one would notice her. She had been lucky that Blackout hadn't recognized her. Ironhide was getting closer and when he got there, the Decepticons were going to pay. _

_It was Barricade who recognized her. He started towards her and Chromia jumped up to make a run for it as her 'flight' programming kicked in. She knew the effort was futile, but she had to try. She was able to elude several Decepticons as she ran, Elita becoming hopeful that she might make it, but losing hope just as quickly as she realized, "Make it where?" The entire time, Chromia kept transmitting to Elita for her to remain hidden. They finally caught Chromia as she cursed furiously at them, promising them certain death. _

"_It's Ironhide's femme alright," Barricade commented as he hefted her up, her kicking anything her feet could come into contact with. _

_Megatron could not believe his good fortune. Ironhide and Chromia had been causing him nothing but trouble for many vorns. Eliminating them would be most beneficial. But first, he would take advantage of the situation. Not only was she beautiful, but here was a femme that had something he could use. He could learn a lot from her. _

_Elita almost jumped out of hiding as Megatron wrapped a clawed hand around Chromia's throat. She didn't know what, but she had to do __**something**__! _

_Chromia transmitted to her to please remain hidden. The sparkmate of Prime was more important than her and Ironhide. The Autobots were getting closer. If Elita could just remain hidden a little while longer... _

---

_Chromia started in alarm when she saw it; a wire connector snaking from Megatron's hand. She resisted, jerking her head in his grip to hopefully prevent any connection. She realized it couldn't be prevented, but she made it hard for him nonetheless. He tightened his grip on her throat as he pulled her closer, immobilizing her against his body with his other arm. Her spark rebelled against the closeness of his furiously, repelling it like two positive ends of a magnet. He held on tight, his interfacing port way too close for comfort as well. She was optic to optic with him, fear finding its way into her spark._

"_Maybe I should take you as my pet and force Ironhide to serve under me," he said to her sadistically._

"_Ironhide would never serve you," Chromia was seething with hatred. "He would take his own life first, and mine with it."_

"_You would be surprised at what fear can do to a mech," Megatron responded._

_Having her sufficiently distracted, Megatron forced the connection at the back of her neck, his cold, dark presence invading her mind. Chromia immediately threw up her firewalls, but he was able to hack through them as he suddenly fondled her chassis, making her lose her concentration, if only briefly, but that was all he needed. _

---

_Ironhide felt Chromia's fear and struggle through their bond. Then, his energon froze as he felt another presence. He stopped dead as he realized what was happening to her, his spark aching that he was powerless to stop it. He was suddenly filled with Chromia's despair before being consumed by his own rage, energon boiling __**RAGE!!!**_

"_**I am going to KILL you!!!" **__Ironhide transmitted to the intruder in his link with Chromia, ENRAGED. _

"_**You are no match…" **__Megatron responded through Chromia's link to Ironhide. The transmission was cut short as Chromia continued to fight him, trying to push him out of her mind._

_Optimus and Ratchet stopped when Ironhide did, fearing the worst._

"_Ironhide?" Ratchet started._

"_Move! Move! He's going to kill them!!!" Ironhide screamed desperately as he took off at a speed they didn't know he was capable of reaching. He didn't even know he was capable of reaching it, but shear terror spurred him on. He was so close now that he could practically see her!_

---

_Megatron tapped into Chromia's CPU, gaining access to everything she knew, all her knowledge, all her memories, everything. He started forcefully downloading it all and Chromia screamed, struggling against him with all the strength she possessed. It wasn't enough. _

_Megatron pushed harder, gaining access to files she was desperately trying to bury, enjoying her screams and Ironhide's spiking fury, which was making this all the more delicious. Megatron paused as he discovered that she was hiding something else..._

---

_Elita watched in horror as Megatron opened Chromia's chassis. He hadn't done that with the other femmes. Chromia struggled with renewed fervor as he reached in and wrenched out her spark maliciously. _

_Elita shuttered her optics sadly, bracing herself for the pain of their dying bond, full of regret that she had done nothing to try to prevent Chromia's death..._

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* * *

**A/N**: Ducking under my desk as I avoid your angry blows!

I wanted to depict Megatron as something truly evil, not any of that sugar coated pussy crap we see in the cartoon.

I apologize about Moonracer. I had originally chosen a more obscure femme, but then I realized it needed to be a friend of Elita and Chromia's. Probably all femmes are friends anyway, but only a true friend would visit another in a case like this, I'm thinking.

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	10. Sunshadow

(posted Dec. 2, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thank you to all my **REVIEWERS **of Ch. 9: **Karategal, lady tecuma, Blume, Violetlight, Bluebird Soaring, flamingmarsh, LadyJet2, RachaelMNiner, Hearts of Eternity, plunger02, Fae Child19, theshadowcat, riah riddle, MadameSoybean, dytabytes, grlwdgrntrk, ferretsareillegal, plenoptic, ArmoredSoul, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Lecidre, Eowyn77, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.**

Thanks for adding me and my story to:

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You guys are the greatest!

**CREDITS**: Thanks to **grlwdgrntrk **for letting me use her idea on how a femme's spark splits and how it leaves a mark on her spark each time she has a sparkling, from her story **'Face Down**.' Special thanks also to **Karategal, Hearts of Eternity, **and **lady tecuma**.

**WARNING**: Prepare yourselves...character death, non-consensual situations...Very sad! I'm sorry!

**HUGE WARNING HERE!** This may be disturbing to some readers. I'm disturbed and I wrote the damn thing! I almost changed the story, but sent the chapter to Madame Soybean to see what she thought. After telling me she could no longer continue with her day, I was convinced it should be changed. Later, she wrote and said that I need to continue with my original plan. "If it's making us all react and feel emotion, it's great writing if you ask me," she wrote to me. So, that being said, you have the option here to skip this chapter. A short explanation of what happened is at the very end. You don't have to know how it happened to understand the rest of the story, just that it happened.

_Italics _are a flashback and **bold words **are transmissions through personal links. Regular print is the present, except for one memory clip.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 10

Sunshadow

by Litahatchee

_When Optimus first established Floatilla, Megatron paid little attention to it. He didn't care what Optimus did with all those weaklings. He took notice of it when the Decepticons started sending their bondeds and younglings there, but he still paid little attention. He did not approve of spark-bonding among his soldiers, inside or outside of the ranks. A weakness was introduced when one allowed his life to be completely dependent on another's for survival. However, if his bonded soldiers sent their sparkmates to Floatilla, then he would stand little chance of losing them because of this weakness, so he tolerated it. _

_All the younglings at Floatilla were given a choice as to what faction they wanted to join. However, it soon became apparent that most of them from Autobot pairings chose to be Autobots. A new Neutral faction was born where some chose not to belong to either. This did not help reinforce the Decepticon ranks. While most Decepticon younglings chose to be Neutral, some were choosing to be Autobots. Megatron started taking notice. As far as he was concerned, the Decepticon femmes were traitors. _

_Megatron was no idiot. He also saw the strength that some bonds possessed, especially when the bonded pair were both combatants. The most notable pair that the Decepticons came against time and again was Ironhide and Chromia. They were taking the Decepticons out mech by mech. Megatron had no doubt that Optimus and Elita were just as strong. There were other pairs out there that cost him as well. _

_The Decepticons tried to use the weakness of Autobot bonded pairs against them by targeting and killing one of the pair. They were successful in some cases, but usually paid dearly for it, losing more Decepticons than it was worth. But, Ironhide and Chromia were just unstoppable. They knew exactly what they were doing. And, with Floatilla producing more and more Autobots, it was only a matter of time before more bonded pairs like them would spark up. Megatron could not afford another Ironhide and Chromia. Floatilla had turned into a virtual Autobot factory. He decided it was time to put an end to it. _

_Megatron's plan had been brilliant in its execution. The first thing he had to do was make the Autobots think that there would be lasting peace, so he called for a cease fire, which they accepted happily. He had time. He had nothing but time as he let each vorn pass, the Autobots becoming more and more complacent, thinking the peace was real. There were times when some of his more eager soldiers became impatient and attacked small outposts, but Megatron quashed the disputes quickly, killing them for their insolence. How dare they interrupt his plans? However, he was able to gain some trust by quelling these disputes, so he strategically ordered a couple as the peace wore on, just so he could continue to show his 'dedication' to keeping it. _

_Even Optimus seemed to be falling for it. Soon they established open communication again. They were bonded siblings after all. Optimus was weary of him, but he was hopeful. Megatron used Optimus's weariness against him, even encouraged it, knowing that Optimus would never suspect his true intentions. _

_The goal was to kill everyone at Floatilla and then move on to the AllSpark while the Autobots were in shock. So, when he called for a gathering to be held at Kaon, he was pleased that Optimus suspected an ambush at Kaon was Megatron's plan all along. Optimus wanted to meet at a neutral location, but that did not take away from Megatron's plans, as he chose one that was close to Kaon, yet still far away from Floatilla, where the real ambush would be taking place. _

_Megatron would take care of two problems by having all the Decepticon bondeds distract the Autobots at the gathering. Neither the Autobots nor the Decepticon bondeds would know until it was too late. There was also the matter of distance, so even if his Decepticons failed him, by the time they would get to Floatilla, it would still be too late. However, he wanted the Autobots to arrive at Floatilla eventually, so the Decepticons 'distracting' them were not to put up much of a fight; just enough to make the Autobots believe it was an ambush. Then, once they figured out the true intent, they would race to Floatilla only to find total annihilation. The Decepticons at Floatilla would then attack the arriving Autobots in a full-on assault as Megatron went for the ultimate prize: the AllSpark. In their shock over the blow at Floatilla, they would never suspect Megatron going for yet another objective._

_The war, for Megatron, had always been about galactic domination and planetary control. He would take out Floatilla and any chance of new Autobots being produced from bonded pairs. He would see to it, personally, that every bonded femme at Floatilla be exterminated. He would then take the AllSpark and use it to create more Decepticons. In this way, the Autobots would be overwhelmed and he would take Cybertron and, ultimately, the universe._

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_Elita watched in horror as Megatron opened Chromia's chassis. He hadn't done that with the other femmes. Chromia struggled with renewed fervor as he reached in and wrenched out her spark maliciously. _

_Elita shuttered her optics sadly, bracing herself for the pain of their dying bond, full of regret that she had done nothing to try to prevent Chromia's death._

_However, the pain never came; the link never died…_

_...And that's when Elita heard it. Her energon ran cold and her spark fell heavily, her abdomen fluttering in dread. She knew what it was immediately. _

_A clip from earlier in the day replayed itself in her CPU: _

"I have something I want to show you," Chromia said to her softly, that same warm smile crossing her faceplates again.

_Elita found herself wishing that it had been Chromia's spark and she knew, she knew that both Chromia and Ironhide would be wishing it had been Chromia's spark for the rest of their lives, however short it seemed that was about to be._

_Elita was afraid to look. The next thing she heard was Chromia's pleading. _

"_Please!" Chromia was absolutely terrified now as her motherly instincts forced her to beg. "We'll do anything! Anything you want! Just please don't hurt him!"_

_Elita painfully unshuttered her optics to an image that would burn itself forever in her CPU. Dangling from one of Megatron's clawed hands was a tiny sparkling not more than two vorns old. It was a mech, with a frame as black as Ironhide's. He was squeaking in terror, reaching out to Chromia as she pleaded desperately for his life. All that mattered to her now was his survival, whatever it took to insure it. Her pleas went unnoticed, or not so unnoticed, as Megatron laughed at her struggling helplessly in his grip. _

_Elita cried in agony for her friend. She realized, with sadness, that they had waited until they thought the peace was going to last. Both Chromia and Ironhide had obviously opted to carry the mech, a very loving gesture. She regretted everything, everything negative she had ever said about Ironhide, even the joking. She would give anything to take it all back right now. She would give anything to take Chromia's place. _

---

_Chromia thought her spark might explode with terror. Her sparkling didn't understand why she was so frightened and why his mech creator was so angry. All he knew was that it was making him scared and that he was in pain from being disconnected from her spark-casing so harshly. He didn't understand why everything was so cold. He wanted to crawl back into his hold in her chassis and reattach himself to her warm spark-casing. His spark kept calling to her and when she didn't respond to his needs, he reached out to his mech creator, whose chassis was so roomy and warm…_

_Chromia tried to send calm and reassurance to the sparkling through their bond. If she could just get him to relax enough to go into recharge. _

_Megatron felt what she was doing through his tap with her. Disgusted, he tightened his grip on her throat, causing her self-preservation programming to kick in and abandon the connection with the sparkling. Chromia fought it, the terrified shrills of her sparkling, as she abruptly disappeared, giving her strength to fight it. She managed to send love and warmth to him and he began to calm down, but what he really wanted was to be carried again. Chromia was crying now. What was taking them so long?_

_She heard what sounded like a seeker above them. When he flew into her field of vision, she noticed it wasn't a seeker at all. It was Silverbolt! For the first time since this began, Chromia felt hope. There were explosions at the entrance to the city as the Autobots began to arrive. _

_Megatron immediately ordered the deaths of the remaining bondeds. The Decepticons attacked them without mercy, killing every single one within a breem. Starscream would have none of it, but he didn't mind killing Autobots, so he and the rest of the Decepticon seekers rose up to take on that Aerialbot coward, Silverbolt. The rest of the Aerialbots were not far behind, no doubt._

---

_Ironhide's spark nearly extinguished when he felt their sparkling calling him. The little bot was scared and he wanted to be carried. He really liked Chromia's cozy chassis, but he was ready for Ironhide to carry him now, so that he could stretch out a bit. There was so much room in his mech ceator's chassis. Ironhide reassured the sparkling that he would be carrying him soon. Ironhide could feel Chromia struggling to calm the sparkling as well. The young mech seemed to reach a state of contented calm as he received warm feelings from his creators. They were both in a state of utter panic, but they were responding to him, and that's what he understood._

_Ironhide had only been a few breems behind the first arriving Autobots. He was running through the chaos around him, shooting any Decepticon that so much as looked in his direction._

---

_Megatron tossed the little sparkling in his hand until it was lying on its back in his enormous palm. He positioned his clawed thumb on the little bot's chassis, right over his spark._

"_Let me get rid of this for you," Megatron said to Chromia, as if he were doing her a favor._

"_No! Please!" Chromia cried desperately. _

_Megatron could now feel Ironhide responding to the sparkling. All of this was better than he could have dreamed. _

"_**You are not going to make it. You are going to lose everything," **__Megatron taunted Ironhide through his link with Chromia, delighting in the sick irony that he could do so through the tap. _

_Taking his sick pleasure from their terror, he applied pressure with his clawed thumb._

_"IIIIRRRONNHHIIIDDE!!!!!!"_

_Chromia's energon curdling, anguished scream rang out across the plaza, echoing off of the surrounding buildings._

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Ironhide found Chromia out in the desert. She was curled up in a ball on the edge of the enormous Earth formation that dropped into the canyon below. Ironhide bent down to pick her up and she started thrashing about, pushing him away from her.

"Chromia, shhh. It's me," he said soothingly as he sent her love and warmth through their bond.

He knew this was coming. He had hoped for more time, but there had been just too many reminders since she arrived to this planet. She turned to look at him, her optics full of sorrow and pain.

"Hide," she whispered as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and allowed him to lift her up, her spark latching onto his dependently. Even though his spark was hurting from one Pit of a shock she sent to him earlier, he latched onto hers tenderly.

"I can't remember his name," she whispered painfully in his audio receptor. Chromia was shaking with sorrow. Ironhide squeezed his optics shut and held her tighter.

He knew she wanted to delete the memory, but he was hurt when she wanted the entire chip removed, as it contained every single memory about their sparkling. It hurt him that she was so willing to have it all gone. She eventually accepted that their sparkling was gone and wanted his memory, but during the times she tried to delete the incident, she would wind up deleting other details on the chip, not necessarily related to what Megatron did to her. Ironhide had no idea one of the details was the name of their sparkling. Ironhide never forgot his sparkling's name, but he had not spoken the name since their sparkling was so brutally taken from them.

"I'm sorry," he whispered painfully as the memory came to the front of his CPU.

What he remembered most about it was her scream, right before the spark shattering pain. He had been so close...

For the trillionth time, Ironhide went over all the 'What if's.' What if he had gone faster? What if he hadn't stopped that first time when he thought he'd lost her? What if he had just taken her with him to the meeting? He wasn't carrying that day because of the suspicions that it was an ambush. What if he had been carrying anyway? What if he'd just asked her not to go to Floatilla until he got back? What if…? What if…? …?

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_Ironhide was so close, but he was not close enough. He heard her scream his name…_

…A_nd he knew. In the astrosecond before it hit him, he already knew. His spark skipped in fear. Then it hit him. No amount of warning could have prepared him. Searing pain ripped through his spark as the bond with his sparkling was severely torn away. He never felt a dying bond like this. Many mechs that he had been bonded to had been killed over the vorns. All of them were painful, but nothing, nothing like this. It felt like a piece of his spark was slowly being hacked out, each cut bringing more and more pain. He was in excruciating agony. He fell to his knees, screaming. _

_Ironhide refused to believe it, he couldn't believe it. What on Cybertron just happened? How could he not be there for his family? _

_Ironhide remained on his knees, broken and defeated. The attacking Decepticons saw it as their chance and advanced on him..._

---

_Chromia completely and utterly gave up and gave in to Megatron's tap as her sparkling died. Megatron could now easily gain access to anything he wanted in her CPU. Another interesting tidbit of information presented itself. Megatron was beside himself. His luck just kept getting better and better. He knew this operation would be successful, but he had no idea this operation would be _this_ successful._

"_Elita One is here," he turned to Blackout, unable to keep the excitement from his voice. "Get her!"_

---

_Optimus had been imploring Elita to remain hidden until he got there. There was nothing she could do. All she would do by showing herself would be to make herself a target. However, when she heard Megatron, she jumped up and ran in the direction of the arriving Autobots, transmitting frantically to Optimus that she'd been discovered..._

---

_This operation had proven to be most successful indeed. The Decepticons had successfully eradicated the femmes and younglings. Megatron had successfully eliminated all the bondeds of Floatilla. He was currently successfully ridding himself of Ironhide and Chromia; the discovery of the sparkling had been an added bonus. Now he could rid himself of Optimus Prime easily by killing Prime's sparkmate. How could Prime allow himself such a weak indulgence? His weakness would be his undoing._

_Megatron saw Elita jump up out of her hiding spot. She took off running in the direction of the arriving Autobots. Megatron watched her with lust-filled optics. She was just as beautiful as Chromia. And, oh, the things he could learn from her CPU! He was going to kill her, of course, but he was going to enjoy making Optimus suffer first._

_Megatron turned back to the now limp Chromia in his arms, who had given up all efforts to fight him._

"_**Ironhide," **__Megatron said to him through Chromia's link as he embraced her almost lovingly. __**"I am going to kill the ones you love and watch you anguish over their lifeless bodies as you slowly die."**_

---

_Ironhide could hear Megatron loud and clear now as Chromia lost all hope. Ironhide's resolve was set. He would not give Megatron the satisfaction. Chromia was still alive and as long as he remained that way, she would remain that way. His love for her was the greatest thing he had ever known. He would not give up on her now, not while he still had a chance to save her. _

_As soon as the Decepticons were upon him, Ironhide attacked, channeling all his pain and anger into a fiery vengeance that flared and grew, spreading inextinguishable death. The first two took the full brunt of it as he grabbed the throat of one with his left hand, digging his fingers in deep behind the wiring, and violently pulled up and out, the entire vocal processor unit ripping completely free of the mech's neck. The Decepticon went down, a gurgling sound coming from his vents as they filled up with energon. Ironhide simultaneously blew a hole in the chest of the other with his right cannon and reached into the hole, yanking out the Decepticon's spark. _

_Ironhide's optics flashed a murderous red as he twisted the gun off of a third and thrust it into the abdomen of the unlucky Decepticon, shoving it under his armor and pushing it up into the soft wiring beneath his spark. A fourth and fifth attacked, Ironhide successfully pinning one on his back crushing his head beneath his feet, energon swiftly pooling around him, and yanked an arm off of the other, who didn't press the attack after that. _

_More attacked him as he advanced towards Megatron and his Chromia. One landed a blow to his right knee. It buckled, but Ironhide kept going, Pit-bent on killing every one of them, spark-raving mad with rage._

---

_Megatron watched Ironhide coming. He was impressed. The crazed black mech was making quick work of the Decepticons. Megatron was even impressed with his tactics. Too bad he had just killed the sparkling. He might have had a chance of coercing Ironhide into joining him if he hadn't done that. _

_Megatron watched as Ironhide took on injuries, none of them slowing him down, his optics now a deep crimson as he pulled off any limb that came into reach of his hands. He was covered in energon. Several Decepticons decided it wasn't worth it and tried to flee, but Ironhide's cannons dealt their fatal blows. _

_Megatron shook his head in a tiny bit of regret; Ironhide would have made a great Decepticon. Megatron still possessed his femme, but Ironhide would also be difficult to control. Even Optimus had a tough time controlling him. And as soon as his femme recovered, they would have that bonded strength again... _

_No, it would be best to be rid of them._

---

_Megatron threw Chromia to the ground and she landed hard on her back. She slowly lifted herself up on her side and turned to see Ironhide. She quickly turned away from him. How could she face him? She couldn't keep their sparkling hidden…_

_Megatron clapped his hands together, a projectile-like spear shooting from his left forearm as he did so. He pulled it out with his right hand and brandished it over his shoulder, aiming straight for Chromia's spark._

_Ironhide ROARED as Megatron threw it. She let out one final scream as it pierced her chassis, making its way through her body, and pinning her steadfastly to the ground. Megatron had intended for it to stop Ironhide in his tracks, but instead he became more infuriated. It did, however, slow him down as he clutched his chest in agonizing pain. _

_Ironhide was before Megatron in a matter of astroseconds. Megatron was much larger than Ironhide and they both knew Ironhide didn't stand a chance, but that hardly mattered now. Ironhide would inflict as much damage as he could. _

_Ironhide shot with both cannons, aiming directly for Megatron's spark. He missed, but a huge gaping hole appeared in the larger mech's shoulder. Without letting even a split second pass, Ironhide was immediately upon him, grasping the apparatus below Megatron's left arm that made the spear and wrenching it free while simultaneously seizing his clawed thumb and ferociously snatching it backwards. _

_Megatron cried out in pain and surprise. At that moment, he received a transmission from Blackout that he had successfully obtained Elita One and was proceeding to the rendezvous. It was time to go after the AllSpark. Megatron didn't have time to play around. _

_There was a scar across Ironhide's left optic. Using this as a target, Megatron thrust his right hand out, his claws piercing through the scar, and ripped off that side of Ironhide's face, his optic falling below his cheek, hanging on by several wires. As he did this, Megatron fiercely swept Ironhide's feet out from under him, cleanly breaking the left knee. Ironhide writhed in pain and anger on the ground as Megatron transformed and headed towards the AllSpark, which, at the time, was located at Iacon._

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_Optimus had done all he could to rescue Elita. Blackout was successful in apprehending her before he arrived at Floatilla. She was transmitting to him, but she had no idea where she was, as Blackout had placed something over her optics. _

_Megatron had fled, but Optimus had no idea where to, and the Autobots were fighting fiercely over Floatilla. The fighting was beginning to wane and they were able to survey the damage first hand. _

_It became clear that Megatron had not intended to force the younglings into servitude at all. He killed all of them. Not one had been spared. All the femmes were dead. It was horrendous, pure slaughter. There were lifeless, energon covered bodies and parts of bodies everywhere. Everything was covered with energon as it ran down the streets. When they got to the plaza and saw first hand what the bondeds had been transmitting that was happening to them, many mechs fell to their knees and cried. Some would never recover._

_One lone bonded Decepticon femme appeared out of the carnage. She had worn her Decepticon symbol proudly on her chassis. It looked as if she had been trying to scratch it off. She knelt before Optimus and reached up to grab his hand, pressing her forehead to the back of it._

"_I pledge what's left of my life to your cause," she said to him._

_He didn't know it at the time, but this femme would be instrumental in helping him find Elita. She would not remain nameless and she would forever hold a high position of honor in the CPU of Optimus Prime._

_At that moment, Optimus got the call that the AllSpark location was being attacked. For the first time in several hundred vorns, Optimus felt lost and afraid._

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_Ironhide held the tiny lifeless mech in his arms, his despair threatening to drive him mad. He opened his chassis and gently placed the sparkling in the hold in front of his spark casing. Ironhide spoke to him softly, telling him that he could stretch out now. There was no response. _

_Ironhide shuttered his remaining optic, praying to Primus that his injuries would take him soon, as death caused from losing his sparkmate would not come soon enough. He lay down next to Chromia, grasping her hand in sorrow. He didn't make it. He had been so close, but he didn't make it. He couldn't protect them. He couldn't save them. He failed them._

"_I'm sorry," he whispered sorrowfully._

---

_It was Ratchet who found them. He and First Aid were searching for survivors, any survivors. So far, they hadn't had much luck. _

"_One more step, and I'll send you to Pit," a voice said to him from the shadows. _

_Ratchet looked towards the voice and caught a glimpse of a red optic staring him down. He didn't recognize the optic or the mech it belonged to, but he did recognize the cannon being pointed his way... _

"_Ironhide?" Ratchet asked. "It's me...Ratchet..."_

_"Go away."_

_Ratchet approached him cautiously as Ironhide dropped his arm. He was horrified by what he saw. Ironhide had suffered extensive damage, especially to his face. However, it looked as if Chromia… _

_Ratchet knelt next to her and inspected the projectile. It had pierced her abdomen completely through. However, it had not pierced her spark. It had just missed it, taking out the bottom of the spark casing, but the spark remained intact._

_He was going to need Ironhide's help. He was going to need all the help he could get if he was to save her._

"_Ironhide, she's alive," Ratchet said to him. "She's gone into stasis lock." _

_Ironhide remained still. __Ratchet called First Aid as he grabbed Ironhide and pulled him as close to her as possible. They were going to need to work fast. _

"_Ironhide, I need your spark. You need to get as close as possible." _

_Ratchet would have liked to join them. Doing so would have allowed her to gain some strength, but he wasn't sure if it was possible. He needed to get the spear removed and hope to Primus that he could repair the wiring that it destroyed. For now, just having Ironhide's spark next to hers would have to do. Any proximity would help. Ironhide remained quiet._

"_Oh, Primus, I don't know Ratchet," First Aid said upon seeing Chromia's condition when he arrived to the scene._

"_We've got to save her, or we're going to lose both of them," Ratchet said and started the task of cutting the spear down close to her frame so that she could be moved. _

_First Aid was not optimistic at all. In all seriousness, neither was Ratchet, but he had to try._

---

_They were able to get them both down to Iacon. Ratchet had to repeatedly pull Ironhide over Chromia's spark. It wasn't that Ironhide wasn't cooperating, he was just unresponsive. _

_Once they got them into Ratchet's med bay, he and First Aid quickly went to work. They got the spear removed, but had a hard time stopping the energon flow. They nearly lost her then. _

_Ratchet placed Ironhide on the operating table with her so their sparks would never lose contact. Ratchet became hopeful when they resonated together. He worked on her abdominal cavity while Red Alert worked on her spark casing. She was a mess. Though Ratchet would have liked to replace the whole thing, First Aid was able to weld a plate to the bottom of her spark casing. They didn't have any spare spark casings. _

_Ratchet had to remove her interfacing port. It was completely destroyed. He also had to remove her chassis, but he would be able to repair it, even though the parts in it and her abdomen were damaged beyond recognition. After some length of rewiring and wire replacements, Ratchet was becoming more confident, though. _

"_She won't be able to produce a sparkling, but she'll live," Ratchet remarked._

_The next thing he wanted to do was join their sparks before seeing to Ironhide's injuries. They were extensive, but not fatal, though he was sure Ironhide probably felt like they were, and Chromia needed him now more than ever. By joining their sparks, she would be able to gain the strength she would need to recover. _

_He looked up at First Aid's work and got a good glimpse of Chromia's spark for the first time. He froze. He could see immediately that her spark had split; noticing the small scarring that a sparkling causes once it has separated._

"_Primus, First Aid, she's already had a sparkling!" _

_First Aid looked up at him and nodded his head._

"_You know about this?!" Ratchet exclaimed in surprise._

"_Yes, I built his frame. They wanted me to make him small enough so that he could be carried. Didn't they tell you? They wanted you to build his second frame, once they were done carrying."_

_Ratchet looked at First Aid in pure shock. Ratchet had been keeping himself pretty busy, but Ironhide did tell Ratchet that he wanted to speak with him about something soon. It must have been about the sparkling's second frame._

_Ratchet looked around. The sparkling wasn't with Chromia. They would have seen it when they removed her damaged chassis, though he didn't see her carrying hold, so Ratchet looked again before deciding the sparkling wasn't there._

"_Where is he?" _

_Ratchet and First Aid looked to Ironhide, who was now curled up in a tight ball, his back facing them._

---

_Ratchet and First Aid soon learned that the sparkling had died. There was nothing they could do for him, as he suffered a fatal puncture directly to his spark. However, Ironhide would not allow them to take the little mech from him. Chromia was slipping and Ratchet was getting desperate, but tried to remain calm._

"_Ironhide, there's nothing we can do. You have to let him go. Chromia is still alive, but she won't be if you don't join with her right NOW. I need you to take care of the living!"_

_Ironhide had completely given up by this point. He focused on Ratchet with that disconcertingly red optic and growled, _"_We don't want to live!"_

"_Ratchet, we're losing her!" First Aid said quickly to him._

_Ratchet grabbed Ironhide by his rib-like foreplate and pulled him up harshly, shaking him, "You are going to live! If you don't join with her right now, I am going to join you to her myself!"_

_To emphasize his point, he pulled open Ironhide's chassis. Ratchet's spark felt heavy for the sparkling inside, but he took it out gently. Ironhide did not protest this time. Ratchet then shoved Ironhide's open chest towards Chromia's. _

_Ironhide pushed him away, saying, "Stop, I'll do it." _

_There was a low, harsh clicking noise coming from deep within Ironhide's throat and Ratchet realized he was crying now._

_Ironhide pulled Chromia to him, sadly and gently pressing his spark to hers. The result was exactly what Ratchet wanted as she gained enough strength to aid in her recovery. They were going to live. There was no way Ratchet was going to allow them to give up. _

_Through the meld, Ironhide gained new hope from Chromia's love. She welcomed him into her spark tenderly. She did not blame him. She was afraid that he blamed her. He did not blame her. They still had each other._

---

_Ironhide's optic returned to its deep blue coloring. Ratchet was able to save the other optic, but he could not restore vision to it. It looked like it was working, as it shone as brightly as the other, but sometimes, especially when Ironhide was stressed, a cloudy white would show through. Ratchet was able to reconstruct his face, but a larger scar than before now graced it. Ratchet fixed and rewired everything else, but Ironhide would forever have problems with the broken left knee._

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_The war had always been about planetary control. Now it reached new heights as it became about what types of Cybertronians were produced in order to achieve this goal. Optimus was able to save the AllSpark from falling into Megatron's hands and he had the AllSpark hidden. No Cybertronian, Autobot included, was allowed to get near it, resulting in no new younglings being produced from it. Optimus could not take that chance, not while the Decepticons wanted to control it and especially not while younglings were being targeted._

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_Fighting Decepticons was no longer fun and games for Ironhide and Chromia, as now they were fighting for revenge. Megatron would come to wish that he had made sure that they were dead. He thought they were, but he soon learned that he had missed Chromia's spark. If Megatron thought they were a problem before, now they were more successful than ever against the Decepticons. Megatron was never able to even get near them again. _

_Their tactics became so brutal that Optimus was forced to split them up. He sent Ironhide to Beta Nebulae and eventually to Artemis I. He sent Chromia to Vector Sigma, where she served with Elita One, who went there once she recovered from her ordeal with the Decepticons. _

_Overall, they were all separated, as the search for the AllSpark began, after Optimus launched it into space._

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"I want to go home," Chromia said to Ironhide as he carried her back to the Ark.

"So do I," he responded.

Ironhide tried to place her on the berth, but she had a death grip on him. He sat down on it instead, cradling her in his arms as he rubbed her head and neck with his cheek, snuggling her and rocking her back and forth soothingly. Her arms relaxed as she fell deep into recharge. He continued to hold her as he gazed at her face.

"Sunshadow," he said softly to her recharging form. "We named him Sunshadow."

He looked upon her a while longer, his vocal processors beginning to close up and tightness rising up in his chest. His optics started to burn as his emotions overwhelmed him.

Ironhide pressed his forehead slowly to Chromia's…

…and silently wept.

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* * *

**A/N**: Okay, so coming up with a unique sparkling name is HARD. Kudos to lady tecuma for coming up with Nightfire. I came up with Skyshadow at first, thinking it was original and then looked it up on Wikipedia, only to find that three, no less than THREE Transformers go by this name; two Decepticons and an Autobot. Okay, so Skyshadow, while it is my first choice and Madame Soybean encouraged me to keep using it anyway, wouldn't do. Sorry Madame Soybean! It is the best name, but I just couldn't use it. I then came up with Starshadow. Oh yea, that's nice isn't it? No Transformers go by this name, but I typed it in google and found a person on Fanfiction, no less, by the name of Grimlock-something-another who is using it as the name of a sparkling in their fic. ARGHHH! So, going with the cosmos theme, I chose Sunshadow. No one else has this name and I fell in love with it.

SUMMARY OF CH. 10:

Ironhide and Chromia had a sparkling named Sunshadow that was killed at Floatilla. Chromia survives, but is horribly maimed and cannot produce another. Move on to Ch. 11.

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	11. Tickle Torture

(posted Dec. 14, 2007)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters (such as Sunshadow) AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas (such as carrying), or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I cannot believe the response I got for ch. 10. I cannot even begin to thank you all enough! OMG, and the reviews were just poetic. You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for the support! Thanks to the **REVIEWERS** of ch. 10: **dytabytes, Karategal, flamingmarsh, RachaelMNiner, Elariel, Bluebird Soaring, riah riddle, Nirianne, LadyJet2, Cassiopeia1979, hydraling110, theshadowcat, Xerios **(2 reviews), **Ray of Starlight, Hearts of Eternity, Fae Child19, MadameSoybean, lady tecuma, Twospotz, plunger02, Blume, grlwdgrntrk, ferretsareillegal, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, plenoptic, ArmoredSoul, Robin moto, Lord Marix **(yes, regardless of your mindless flame, I thank you too; because you inspired ch. 23), **Fire Redhead, Lecidre, ****Eowyn77, Shizuka Taiyou, **and** Saberfang90****.**

Thanks for adding my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: hydraling110, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Ray of Starlight **

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I am so excited! Thank you!

**CREDITS AND THANK YOUs**: The term 'transfer cable' is from **i-love-me-some-leggypoo. **The references to Beta Nebulae and Artemis I and Ironhide as BB's caretaker are from **'Youngling'** by **Karategal**. Thanks always to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, **and** grlwdgrntrk. **I also want to thank **Madame Soybean **and **lady tecuma **for helping me move forward with this and answering a question or two.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 11

Tickle Torture

by Litahatchee

When Chromia finally woke up, she didn't know where she was. She looked around and realized she was in the Ark. She felt Ironhide's strong presence and her spark jumped excitedly. He was sitting in front of an array of spare parts, fiddling with something on his left cannon. He grumbled at it irritably, pulling at a stray wire that must have been giving him fits. Chromia smiled. It had been a long time since they were together like this.

Then it all came back to her. She had arrived to Earth and finally found her sparkmate, only to discover that he had been keeping a huge secret.

Her anger returned. How could he do that to her? Chromia was torn between her joy of feeling a youngling once again and her anger at the love of her life keeping him from her. The little bot wasn't that young. He was almost an adult. She wondered just how long he had been in Ironhide's care. It had sounded like Ironhide had raised him from a sparkling...

…Another flash of anger. She glared at Ironhide's back. She could just shoot him now, while he wasn't looking. As she pondered doing so, she wondered how in the name of Primus did Ironhide keep something such as that from her? Optimus had split them up, but they still saw each other. It wasn't like they were completely separated.

Had Ironhide been caring for the little bot at Beta Nebulae? She remembered his abrupt reassignment to the battle cruiser, _Artemis I,_ and wondered if the sparkling had anything to do with it. Then she thought about everyone who must have come into contact with the little bot...

...More anger. She could just walk over there and kick him in the head. Then she would go deal with Ratchet and Optimus, because they were just as in on the secret as anybody. She knew Elita didn't know, either. Elita would have told her during all that time they were together after the mission for the AllSpark began. And the youngling was _on_ the mission too. What kind of conspiracy was this? Everybody knew but her and Elita, it seemed.

Chromia came back to her initial question; how did Ironhide keep this from her? She hadn't done much CPU interfacing following that whole ordeal at Floatilla. It had taken her a long time to come to terms with what had happened to her. When she did start allowing it again, it was only through necessity of transferring information quickly, and then only for what she wanted at the time. There was no transfer of random files for the pure enjoyment of sharing memories. She did not explore Ironhide's mind like she used to, nor did she allow him to explore hers. The most exploring and sharing they had done in a long while had been just a few Earth days ago, or was it longer? She wasn't sure.

Chromia realized that she hardly ever visited Ironhide at Beta Nebulae. He always came to her, at Vector Sigma. And she had never set foot on _Artemis I_. She became certain that Ironhide had full custody of the sparkling once he got to _Artemis I_.

She shook her head; Ironhide didn't have that hard of a time keeping his secret after all.

Chromia's next question was, why? Why would Ironhide keep a sparkling from her? Obviously, Optimus knew of him too. Chromia remembered that Ironhide said it was Optimus who found the little mech.

Optimus had not told Elita…

Chromia's spark sank as she realized what they had been trying to do. Ironhide and Optimus were protecting the last youngling and, as two of the last bonded pairs, they were protecting their sparkmates too. Chromia hadn't known about Bumblebee and Bumblebee hadn't known about Chromia. Ironhide was protecting them. He was protecting them both from the remote, but possible, chance that either one of them would ever be found and tapped. The Autobots paid dearly for what Megatron got out of Elita and it had been the tapping of Chromia that had led Megatron to her. If that had ever happened to Chromia again, then the Decepticons would know of the last youngling and where to find him. If the youngling had ever been tapped, then the Decepticons would know where to find two of the last femmes; two very important bonded last femmes at that. So, they had remained completely oblivious of each other.

Chromia sighed sadly. They had all suffered greatly. They were suffering still. How did it ever get to be this way? Chromia tried to think of happier times, before the war. Cybertron had been so beautiful and full of life.

Chromia knew that Ironhide would never willingly keep something like this from her. She had no doubt that Ironhide would have told her, would have shared him with her, if it weren't for the state that they were in at the time.

Those had been confusing times.

When Chromia couldn't delete the horrors of Megatron, she had been willing to have that entire memory chip removed. She remembered how hurt Ironhide had been. He understood if there were certain things she didn't want to remember, but all the memories she had of their most precious creation were on that chip. He was spark-broken that she would want to forget that Sunshadow even existed at all. Chromia realized that Ironhide had been just as hurt about that as she was now about his secret. Chromia thought of her accusations of Ironhide trying to replace their sparkling with Bumblebee. Who was _she_ to lecture _Ironhide_ about replacement?

Chromia was also keeping secrets from him. Nothing as large as hiding a youngling, but something that affected him greatly. Of course, he got to find out that great news from Ratchet.

Her anger subsided considerably as she thought it all through. It hurt. It hurt badly, but she understood. As much as it pained her, she understood what he had been trying to do. She would have done the same thing.

Chromia couldn't be mad at him. They had been through everything imaginable and unimaginable together.

She watched him curse at whatever new malfunction he was dealing with. She couldn't count how many times she had awoken in the past to find him sitting, just as he was now, playing with his weapons, or affecting some sort of repairs.

"Just like old times," she said warmly.

Ironhide turned to her and she saw that his blind optic was very cloudy. She decided she could have a little pity for him. He was obviously very stressed out. She figured it had to do with her and Bumblebee. Her spark fluttered as she thought of helping him relieve his stress.

"You're up," he said softly, ignoring her spark as it was very obviously calling for him.

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"Almost two orns."

"Two orns, really?" Chromia paused and then winked at him. "Must've been the barn."

Ironhide smiled, thinking that they couldn't burn anything down in here. He knew it didn't have anything to do with the barn, but she always knew how to lighten his mood.

"Oh, there'll be fire," Chromia said, reading him perfectly. She sat up, surprisingly painfully, "Oh, I feel like slag."

Ironhide's smile faded as he became worried, "I'll get Ratchet."

"No, that's okay," Chromia said quickly.

The last thing Chromia wanted right now was a Ratchet-prescribed joining, especially since she knew that was what she needed anyway. They could just as easily join here. She didn't need Ratchet monitoring their systems to make sure it was 'going well.'

They stared at each other for a long moment. Ironhide really didn't know what to say. He hadn't handled the Bumblebee thing very well and he didn't want to mess things up any more than they already were by speaking about it. He never was good with words.

It was Chromia who made the first move. She got up off the berth and walked over to him. He stared up at her from his spot on the floor as she settled herself in his lap. She caressed his face, paying particular attention to the bad side. He didn't move and he never lost optic contact with her. She traced the new dent she made and was satisfied to see him wince.

"Does it hurt?" she asked smugly.

He didn't say anything for a second and then, "Yes," he admitted.

"Good," she said curtly, quite satisfied that she could land a punch that still ailed him from two orns ago.

Ironhide chuckled. He wasn't quite sure if she had forgiven him, but he understood that would probably take some time. However, for that moment at least, he knew that they were going to be all right.

Chromia cupped his face in her hands, looking at him directly in his optics, "What else do you have hiding in there?"

He didn't say anything as her CPU interfacing line unraveled out of her hand. He wrapped his arms around her affectionately. He wasn't hiding anything else, per se, but he was prepared to give her _everything_.

To his utter surprise, she didn't go for his CPU at all. Instead, she reached down, expertly flipped open his interfacing port, reached in, and grabbed his transfer cable before he had even a slight chance to protest. He sat up abruptly.

"Chromia…" he started to protest.

She liked hearing him say her name, so she pushed him down and squeezed the cable before he could say anything else. He moaned loudly, but tried to push her off. He was never comfortable with this kind of attention, not since she lost her interface at Floatilla, and especially since he could no longer return the favor.

She leaned into him more and pressed her hand firmly into the port, "No no, I've got you right where I want you."

Ironhide growled excitedly at her as he gave in.

During interfacing, the two involved remained individuals. They could give each other individual pleasure, while deriving pleasure. Everything that one was feeling could also be felt by the other. They could even share information and feelings. A lot of the time it was a game, to see who could pleasure who the most, but the condition remained; they were still individuals. No permanent bond resulted from interfacing. Interfacing could be done with anybody. A mech could have multiple femmes and vice versa.

However, in spark-bonding, a Cybertronian could only bond with one, a very permanent one-partner bond that made each Cybertronian exactly one half of the other. During spark-bonding, the two involved halves actually became one. The feeling the individuals felt as one was nothing less than extraordinary. Mere interfacing took a back seat to bonding from then on. However, one liked to show some individual attention to his/her mate every now and then.

In Ironhide and Chromia's case, Ironhide didn't have anything to connect to anymore, but she had ways to get around that. Chromia connected her CPU line to his interfacing port as she played with his transfer cable. She wouldn't feel anything, but she would know _exactly_ what _he _was feeling. Ironhide didn't like it, because he couldn't return the favor, though he couldn't deny that he liked getting attention there.

"So, tell me," she said playfully, as she slowly pulled on the cable. "What else do you have hiding in there?" She then pulled and squeezed simultaneously.

"Nothing!" he crowed loudly as delightful spikes of tingly sensation shot through his abdominal region, a look of pure satisfaction crossing Chromia's face as her CPU received the bytes of his enjoyment.

Chromia smiled at him. She knew he wasn't hiding anything else of such importance as a last sparkling, or at least she hoped not, but she was enjoying playing with him.

Continuing to work her digits around his transfer cable, Chromia reached up to open his chassis. She was certain she could have him screaming any moment now.

"I'll have you screaming so loud, everyone on the Ark will know who the dominate one _really_ is in _this_ pairing," she crooned at him enticingly.

Ironhide knew who really possessed who. She was tantalizingly beautiful. She was quick and witty. Everything about her excited him. She possessed him, alright. She possessed every byte of him.

Ironhide's spark jumped in his chest. He quickly grabbed her hand before it reached his chassis. She was still in his lap and he pulled her up by her aft as he stood up off of the floor. Having her suspended in his arms, he pushed her firmly against the wall with his frame, smirking; dominate one indeed.

Chromia winced at the pressure his frame was exerting over hers. It was barely perceptible, but Ironhide noticed it. He wondered why he never noticed this before? He remembered Ratchet's order to take it easy with her.

Ironhide hugged her to his chest and then gently placed her on the berth. It broke his spark to think that he was hurting her. He was desperate to have her, but he figured it wasn't life or death, yet. He could bond with her only when he absolutely needed to. Ratchet may disagree, but Ironhide could wait. Even though it hadn't been complete, Ironhide felt better after the brief meld the other day at the Lennox's. He smiled to himself as he thought of it. That would have to carry him through. He could tell that she needed him too, but she wasn't unconscious, and if she could toy with him, then she probably had enough energy to wait too.

As Ironhide looked upon her, he realized that she had settled with the Jeep Liberty after all. He smiled, tracing the inside edge of one of the pleasing round headlights. She sighed softly, moving towards him.

They lay together awhile. Ironhide still wasn't sure what to say about Bumblebee. She had felt that Ironhide's trust had been taken from her. Ironhide didn't want her to feel that she had lost anything more than what they already had; the losses were enough already. She hadn't lost his trust. She hadn't lost anything else. Careful to keep as much of his weight off of her as possible, he rolled on top of her, cupping her face in his hands.

"I do trust you, Chromia," he said softly to her.

Before she could answer, he connected his CPU line at the back of her neck. Shuttering his optics, he rested his forehead on hers, caressing her face. Then, he poured everything he had into the interface. He sent her everything in his CPU, starting with the file on Bumblebee. She clutched at him as her mind overloaded. He didn't stop there as he poured in every emotion he had for her.

The emotions didn't have any place to go. They found their way down into her frame. Then, something amazing happened. She started moaning and suddenly her body arched upward against him, cooling fans whirring to life rapidly.

Ironhide gaped at her in surprise.

Chromia felt waves of passionate euphoria passing through her abdomen as Ironhide's CPU and emotional upload overwhelmed her. Moaning, she writhed beneath him and arched against him repeatedly, his excitement mounting with each movement. He started to move off of her, but her arms tightened around him. The tingling sensations in her abdomen felt very similar to interfacing.

And it just kept coming, filling her frame with wondrous ecstasy.

Chromia felt like she might overload at any second. She wasn't sure if Ironhide could feel it or not, so she tried to transmit what she was feeling through their spark bond. She tried harder as she got no response from him.

What Ironhide felt from her was frantic. He cut the connection abruptly, unsure of what was happening to her.

"How?" Chromia drew air into her intakes breathlessly. "How did you do that? That was wonderful."

Ironhide realized she was trying to have him feel what she was feeling. Her anxiousness that caused him to cut the connection had come from the fact that she wasn't successful. He suddenly wished he didn't cut the connection. However, he became elated that she derived pleasure from his upload.

"I don't know!" he answered as he rubbed her face with his thumbs. "I don't think I can do it again."

"Did you feel it?" she asked.

"No," he answered, shaking his head in frustration.

She gazed at him a moment, taking in his facial features. He was so handsome to her. His scarring seemed to add something more than take away. She reached up and rubbed the edge of his optical ridge where his blind optic resided and thought of combat, for some odd reason. She always made sure she fought on his left side so that no one could blind-side him.

He gazed back, little puffs of air hitting her face as his coolant fans worked overtime. He knew what she wanted. He wanted it too, but he just couldn't stand the thought of hurting her.

"What are you waiting for?" she whispered, tantalizing him as she rubbed his chest.

He reached under her chassis and placed his hand on her scar. She pushed it away irritably, his sudden interest in her scar temporarily killing her arousal.

"Why didn't you tell me that I was hurting you?" he finally asked.

Chromia became angry again, "Primus, Ironhide, I'm not _that _fragile."

This was the reason she didn't want him to know. It did hurt when they spark-bonded. It hurt her abdomen and her spark casing, but once they were joined she was in pure bliss. And all of that was beside the point. She _refused _to allow this to be taken from them. A tap could be forced on them, even interfacing could be forced on a bonded Cybertronian. Their younglings could be taken and killed. But this, this was the one thing that they had that belonged _only_ to them. No one could take it from them, _no one_.

She placed a hand lightly on his chassis, over his spark, "This is what we have left, Hide. This is for you and me only. It cannot be taken from us. I refuse to allow it to be taken from us."

Chromia realized that he intended to only bond with her when they absolutely needed to. She shook her head. That was not how sparkmates were meant to live their lives.

"This is not the life a bonded pair is meant to lead," she anguished.

Perhaps calling Ratchet wasn't a bad idea after all. At least, then, she knew joining would be a sure thing. She became even angrier, not at Ironhide, but at the one that made them this way. How could this be happening to them?

She needed bonding to continue to be something they could share out of enjoyment of having each other. They both needed that.

Chromia was suddenly overwhelmed with sorrow and Ironhide drew himself closer, allowing their chestplates to touch. "Shhh," he soothed as his spark responded to hers lovingly.

She needed him. She needed him badly...

...and he needed her, but he was still hesitant.

As renewed arousal gripped her, Chromia roughly grabbed him by his rib-like foreplate, "Take what you need, Ironhide, or you'll find yourself on the floor...and you better believe that I'll be taking what I need."

She fueled his fire by sending her desire to him through their bond.

A low feral growl escaped him, "Is that a challenge?"

In response, she powered up her cannon. Before she could bring it to bear on him, he grabbed her arm and pinned it above her head, his chest hovering just above hers as he held her steadfastly to the berth, quickly overpowering her.

She struggled beneath him a little before saying, "Well, that's no fun, now is it?"

He drew her even closer to himself, purring contentedly in her audio receptor as he rubbed her face with his, tenderly stroking her neck wiring with his mouth plates. He didn't do 'take it easy' very well, but there was a time when he had had to be gentle with her. He could do it again.

"Not nearly as fun as just taking what I need right now," he rumbled, satisfied with the spike of anticipation he felt from her spark, which betrayed the anger showing on her face as she fumed up at him.

Chromia knew he was trying to take the gentle approach, and she hated it. It reminded her too much of how weak she had become.

He rose off of her, without letting her go, and watched her angry expression. He decided his femme harbored too much anger. Perhaps he could do something about that.

Ironhide lightly pinched Chromia's side underneath her armor. She laughed before quickly quashing it with an even, hard expression.

"Don't even think about it," she warned.

"Think about what?" he asked mock-innocently as he did it again, digging his fingers in a little deeper this time. She laughed harder, jerking her frame away from his tickling fingers, trying to buck him off of her.

"Primus, I love it when you laugh," Ironhide said, smiling.

He had discovered that she was ticklish some time after they had bonded. She hid it pretty well up until then. It was a surprising, yet delightful, discovery. She didn't like that he knew this about her one bit.

She glared at him, after another bout of laughter he'd had her in finally subsided.

"What's that?" he taunted. "Are you begging for more?"

"No!" she yelled as his fingers found the sensitive undersides of her thighs. He grabbed and tickled, working his fingers in the wiring of her inner thighs.

Chromia started screaming in laughter as his hands went to work, his frame having her firmly pinned as she tried to get away. Warnings flashed before her optics as she became overexerted, her body threatening to go into involuntary recharge.

Ironhide stopped momentarily so she could 'catch her breath,' so to speak, allowing her coolant systems to catch up. He cupped one of the round headlights and traced it lightly. She whimpered softly, arching into him once more. He traced the latch on her chassis and her spark vibrated wildly, waiting…

Just when she thought he was going to open it, he reached down and pinched her side again.

"Hide?!" she screamed, laughing.

The sound of her screaming his name sent a pulse of heated energy from the top of his head to the ends of his toe plates. He opened her chassis amongst her fits of laughter as he continued his 'tickle torture.' He chuckled at her.

Not bothering with any foreplay of her spark casing, he went straight for the spark, quickly pushing aside the translucent protective covering. She let out a strangled moan as she tried to gain control of her laughter.

Careful not to touch the bottom of her casing, Ironhide dipped his fingers inside of it and lightly fondled her spark. She cried out pleasurably. He watched her haughtily; he could find ways around her missing port, too.

Warm tendrils of energy rose out to caress his hand. He stroked and squeezed as she began moving rhythmically with his rubbing, each caress drawing whimpering cries from her.

"Beautiful," he whispered as he watched her.

The tendrils began pulling on his hand longingly. Ironhide groaned in his desire for her. He allowed his foreplate to fall towards her as his chassis opened, his spark yearning for those tendrils to be pulling on _it_.

He released her spark, the light from his illuminating her passion-filled face. Giving in to the overwhelming need, he dipped his chest towards hers…

Suddenly, they were bathed in light...

It was coming from the doorway...

He looked towards it to find…

"Bumblebee!"

Ironhide had little time to divert his spark from Chromia's, arcs of energy passing between them as he tried to slow his momentum towards her. As he fell towards her, he moved his frame to the side, so that he would land on the berth. Only one problem, there was no berth to land on. He hadn't realized how close to the edge of it they were.

Ironhide fell face first all the way to the floor, crashing loudly _beside _the berth, grunting in pain. Chromia sat up hastily, trembling fingers closing her casing before the innocent optics saw anything else.

Ironhide jumped up off the floor quickly, painfully rubbing his now sore nose, as it had taken the full brunt of the fall.

"Bumblebee?! What are you doing here?" Ironhide asked in surprise.

"Um, I live here," came the response.

"Yes, but, I haven't heard from you in two orns," Ironhide scolded.

Chromia watched the exchange in amusement, her spark finding the youngling, all thoughts of bonding completely dissolving.

"Never mind," Ironhide didn't need to know where he'd been. He was most likely staying with Sam that entire time. After meeting Chromia, he probably needed time to think. But, for right now, Ironhide really just wanted him to go away so he could finish what he started with her. He moved towards the door, "Why don't you go stay with Optimus tonight?"

"But, I want to stay here, with you, and…" Bumblebee hesitated, "…her."

"Not right now," Ironhide said.

"Yes," Chromia's voice came from behind him.

Ironhide turned to look at her, flabbergasted.

"**Now?"** he questioned through their bond, his spark calling to hers wantonly. She sent him a little shock to snap him out of it.

"**Yes, **_**now**_**,"** she responded. **"Let him in, Hide."**

Ironhide reluctantly moved away from the door and Bumblebee walked in.

Bumblebee looked from Ironhide to Chromia, a moment passing before he finally asked Ironhide, "What were you doing to her?"

Chromia stifled a laugh, raising an optic ridge towards Ironhide in amusement.

"**Yes Hide, explain to the young mech what you were **_**doing**_** to me," **she taunted him through their bond, not really intending for Ironhide to explain anything.

Ironhide glowered at her, pushing air out of his vents in exasperation. He pushed Bumblebee towards Bumblebee's berth.

"You know where your bunk is," he said gruffly as he took his place next to Chromia on his own berth. Grumbling, he laid on his side with his back to her, grumpily crossing his arms over his chest.

Chromia reached around and playfully danced her fingertips across his chassis. He slapped her hand away.

Bumblebee saw their exchange and blurted, "Ironhide's ticklish!" as if he were telling her something she didn't already know. Bumblebee jumped off his berth and rushed over to show her where.

Bumblebee pounced on Ironhide, his little hands digging into a wire in Ironhide's neck. Ironhide laughed as if he was bored, trying to encourage Bumblebee to go back to his berth. However, Bumblebee was persistent and dug his tickling fingers in the bigger mech's armpit. Ironhide gave in, laughing, and then proceeding to tickle the very ticklish Bumblebee, who giggled and laughed uncontrollably.

Chromia watched them in amazement, the joy that she could feel emanating from their sparks filling her with hope. She didn't know what other way she'd thought it would be, but Ironhide truly loved this youngling and the youngling _adored_ him. She lowered her head as her emotions began to run rampant, unsure of her place in this particular relationship.

Chromia noticed that they had stopped laughing. She looked up to find two sets of optics staring at her. A mischievous smile slowly crept across Ironhide's faceplates, right before he and Bumblebee lunged at her, Ironhide playfully yelling.

"Get her!"

8888


	12. Matters of the Spark: Ironhide

(posted Dec. 21, 2007) Merry Christmas everybody!

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters (such as Sunshadow) AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas (such as carrying), or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks ever so much to the **REVIEWERS** of ch. 11: **riah riddle, Bumblebee's Girl, Bluebird Soaring, Fae Child19, theshadowcat, flamingmarsh, ladyjet2, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Novamyth, Karategal, plenoptic, Ray of Starlight, Hearts of Eternity, DragonQueen90, Blume, grlwdgrntrk, MadameSoybean, JessyJazz, ferretsareillegal, lady tecuma, ArmoredSoul, Xerios, Lecidre, TransFlashbacks, Iluvbee1990, KyuubiSango, Eowyn77, WhisperedMemories, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.**

Thanks for adding me and my story to your:

**[Story Alert]: P.A.W.07, theundefeatableMJ, Rainchaser, trickcoyote**

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You people are too kind. Thank you all so much!

**RECOMMENDATIONS**: I'll recommend some fics here. You have got to read, **"What Time We Have Left," **by **Hearts of Eternity**. It is such a well-written fic, full of romance and suspense. Also, another great fic is, **"Vapour Trails," **by **violet light**. She has obviously worked hard on that and it is such a good story. Of course, you should read **Karategal's** works. Her ideas are just money. And **lady tecuma's "Sparks and Plasma" **should go down as an all-time fanfiction classic. Also, **Plenoptic's "New Beginnings" **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo's "When In Doubt" **are very fun reads. **Plenoptic's** descriptions of bonding are just beautiful and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo **is hilarious (with a name like that, this person is bound to have a sense of humor). If you want something a bit more serious, on the heart-breaking side, refreshingly so, but oh so well done, then I recommend **"Face Down" **by **grlwdgrntrk **(I should tack a little warning onto this one as it is rated M for a huge reason). These stories have fed my imagination and I think they are worthy of your time. You can find them all on my favorites list on my biopage.

**CREDITS AND THANK YOUs**: I'm assuming Bumblebee would be an ornery riser here. This idea is coming from **Karategal's "Little Brother." **She had Ironhide threatening to wake the bot and "slag him on" Optimus at the end. The reference to Bumblebee being able to feel Megatron's spark is from **Karategal's "Youngling."** And I want to thank **Karategal** for the second part of this chapter. I never would have thought of it if it weren't for her request to use my carrying idea. So, here's to you, **Karategal**! Thank you so much!

**Bold faced** is personal bond interaction. _Italics_ are a flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 12

Matters of the Spark: Ironhide

by Litahatchee

Ironhide awoke to find his berth empty. He didn't recall when Bumblebee had gone to his own berth, but the young mech was sleeping there now. Chromia was standing next to Bumblebee, watching him sleep, her arms hugging her abdomen. Ironhide felt an overpowering anxiety. It came from eons of keeping them safely separated. Having them together was going to take some getting used to.

Ironhide couldn't tell what Chromia was thinking; her emotions were across the board.

"Have you been standing there all night?" he asked her as he propped his head up on his elbow.

She glanced at him, never really taking her optics off of Bumblebee.

"No," she answered somewhat defensively, dropping her arms to her side. "Well, yes," she admitted.

Ironhide watched her as she watched Bumblebee, guilt creeping into his CPU. Ironhide wasn't trying to replace Sunshadow. Nothing could replace the painful, gaping hole in his spark where Sunshadow's presence used to lay. However, Bumblebee had helped him tremendously. He wanted to share that happiness with Chromia, but he could never be sure of her safety, or Bumblebee's.

He couldn't save his family. All his efforts, and his sparkling was dead, his sparkmate scarred forever. Ironhide didn't think he could live on if he lost another youngling. He knew that Chromia couldn't. He kept them anonymous of each other for numerous reasons. It had to be that way. However, watching her now, the look on her face, the rampant emotions gripping her, Ironhide promised himself that he would not leave her to deal with this on her own. Once he had gotten his own act together, with some heavy persuasion from Ratchet, he had been with her every step of the way while she healed physically. However, she needed him to help her deal with this mentally.

"He's beautiful, Hide," Chromia said after some length.

Ironhide smiled, "Yes, he is."

Chromia drew a large amount of air into her intakes and let it out slowly, "I want to hold him."

Ironhide sat up quietly, "It's best if you leave him alone. He doesn't like to be woken up before his recharge cycle is over."

When Bumblebee was a sparkling, he used to scream so loud that Ironhide thought he might have lost more of his auditory functioning. Now, when Bumblebee was woken too early, he yelled, still very loudly.

"He might yell at you," Ironhide continued. "Unfortunately, he's learned a few obscenities from me."

Chromia threw Ironhide a sidelong glance. Yea, she could imagine that the young mech's vocabulary of obscenities was probably quite extensive.

Ignoring Ironhide's warning completely, she sat next to Bumblebee on his berth.

"I'm telling you," Ironhide tried again as he muted his auditory sensors _and_covered his audials with his hands. "It's not going to be pleasant."

Chromia reached out to Bumblebee with her spark. His responded in kind while she sent him gentle, soothing, nurturing signals that a femme could provide for any youngling. His spark latched on to hers grippingly, no doubt lacking in spark interaction, and obviously needing it very badly.

When Bumblebee unshuttered his optics, Ironhide cringed. Instead of yelling at her, however, Bumblebee allowed himself to be pulled up in her cradling arms. He hugged her momentarily, feeling her spark-beat against his, and then drifted back into recharge, humming contentedly.

Chromia looked to Ironhide with a half grin on her face, an optical ridge raised, conveying to him, "You were saying?"

Ironhide looked upon her in amazement. **"How did you do that?"** he asked though their bond.

"**You don't know anything, do you?"** she answered.

"**I thought this sort of thing only worked for a youngling that belonged…"** he hesitated, but went on anyway, **"…that it only worked for your own."**

At the moment, she was a bit too happy to dwell on 'her own.'

"**It works for all of them,"** she said to him.

All femmes were bonded to all younglings. It was in their programming. She didn't want to think on it now but, unlike 'her own,' the femme/youngling bond went away as soon as younglings were adults. The creator bond never went away.

Ironhide eased himself quietly off of his berth and walked over to them. He settled himself behind Chromia and then hugged them both to him. Chromia's back rested comfortably against his chassis. He nuzzled his head in the crook of her neck lovingly, resting his chin on her right shoulder, watching Bumblebee's contented, restful expression. Ironhide couldn't remember when the little bot had looked so peaceful. Bumblebee had been through a lot too.

Everything Ironhide had and cared for was now in his arms. He had both of them now, together. He cared for little else.

Ironhide felt Chromia's spark, so wonderfully close. He placed a hand over her chassis and pressed his chest to her back, trying to get as close as possible. She hummed softly, content to have him so close as well...

...and that's when he felt it. There was something there that had never been there before.

"**What? What is that?"** he asked, trying to get a sense of it.

"**What is what?" **Chromia responded as she smiled down at Bumblebee, whose spark was currently soaking in as much of her as possible.

Ironhide pressed against the 'presence' through their bond, not noticing that Bumblebee stirred slightly.

"_**That**_**,"** he said to her. **"What is **_**that**_**?"**

"**Oh, that's Bumblebee,"** she answered.

Ironhide stared in wonderment. That's Bumblebee? Never, in all the time he had cared for the youngling, never had he been able to feel Bumblebee's spark. They were bonded, sure, just like every Cybertronian was bonded, but only so. It was a strong bond, however. Even Ratchet commented on how strong it was, but that never changed the fact that Ironhide couldn't feel Bumblebee's actual spark. Cybertronians could feel their own sparklings, and vice versa, they could feel their sparkmate, and they could feel anyone's spark who was related to them, but that's it. This feeling was in their actual sparks. They were feeling the essences of each other. No other bond allowed for a mech to actually feel the spark of another.

Ironhide pulled Chromia even closer, hugging her to him tightly. She giggled, relishing in his reaction. He had no idea about this femme/youngling bond. He especially didn't know that she could actually feel a youngling's spark that didn't come from hers. He was feeling it now because of his connection to her.

Ironhide had learned long ago that Bumblebee could feel Megatron's spark and, as such, there was a connection to Optimus. He didn't dwell on this, though. Ironhide was not programmed to think. He always saw it as a cruel game that Primus must be playing with him. The one who took his own sparkling could feel the sparkling he adopted as his own later.

Ironhide couldn't, no matter how close he and Bumblebee became, no matter how hard he tried, he could never feel the young mech's spark. It just wasn't possible.

Ironhide nudged Chromia's head to the side a little, so that he could gently caress her neck with his mouth plates. She never ceased to amaze him. After all the time they'd been bonded, she could still surprise him. She moved her head away, elbowing him in the chest. This didn't deter him, though. Moving her head only served to give him better access to her neck, allowing him to dig in deeper, which he did…passionately.

"**Ironhide, he's right here,"** she reminded her amorous mate, but she knew it wasn't lustful passion. It was pure, unadulterated love.

"**I know,"** he responded. **"I can see him."** Then he whispered in her audio receptor, "I can _feel_ him."

After a few more moments of giving her loving caresses and affectionately rubbing his face against hers, he rested his chin on her shoulder again, pouring his love for her into their bond. He placed his left hand on her chassis, right over her spark, and reached around her with his right, laying it gently over Bumblebee's spark.

Next to Chromia agreeing to bond with him and Sunshadow's creation, this was the greatest, happiest moment of Ironhide's life.

888888888888888

_Ironhide entered the med bay, a screaming bundle of yellow wires clutching his chassis miserably. He sat down in front of Ratchet._

"_I don't know what else to do. He won't stop sorrowing," Ironhide grumbled at Ratchet. _

_Ironhide couldn't sooth Bumblebee through his spark like he used to do with Sunshadow. He couldn't even feel Bumblebee's spark_

_Ratchet watched them a moment, reflecting on how Ironhide's words were the same way that Ratchet was feeling about Ironhide, though he knew that Ironhide would never fully stop sorrowing._

_The little bot was desperately pulling on Ironhide's chassis. Ironhide kept reaching up and pulling him down into his arms, only to have the sparkling screeching even louder. Ratchet had to turn down the receiving volume in his audio receptors. He idly wondered how Ironhide could handle it. Then he figured, amongst all the other problems Ironhide dealt with from day to day, the old mech was probably hard of hearing too._

"_Amazing," Ratchet observed._

_That was not what Ironhide was thinking at the moment. He glared at Ratchet. "What is so amazing about it?" he said more than asked._

"_He knows," Ratchet answered._

"_Knows what?" Ironhide growled._

"_He knows you have a hold. He'd trying to get in." Ratchet knew that Bumblebee had been carried before. He did not come from the AllSpark. He had creators somewhere. He still even had his attachment cable._

_Ironhide pulled the little sparkling down again, "It's not his place."_

_A creator's sparkling hold developed through programming during spark-mating, as did the attachment port to the bottom of the spark-casing. The port was programmed specifically for the creators' own sparkling. Since the sparkling came from their spark, he was compatible with their spark, and nourished from their spark. Only a creator's creation could attach to his/her spark. As such, creators carried their own sparklings, but never anyone else's. There was no use for it if one couldn't provide nourishment to a sparkling. This was the reason AllSpark younglings weren't carried. _

_Once the creators were done carrying a sparkling, the attachment port on the bottom of their spark-casing morphed away. It would come back if they mated again, programmed specifically for the next sparkling. However, the sparkling hold never went away. Once it was programmed into the creator's chassis, it stayed. _

_Ratchet thought about this as he watched the sparkling shaking in his anguish at not being able to gain access to the hold that his caretaker obviously had. Ratchet was a little puzzled. He didn't know that such a thing was intuitive to any sparkling. Obviously, Ironhide's own sparkling would know of the hold, but another's sparkling? This was an interesting development. Bumblebee would not be able to nourish himself from Ironhide's spark, but he obviously needed to be carried. He was suffering from separation anxiety. _

_This sort of thing never happened before the war. A creator's sparkling usually survived, being carried full term, both the creator and created gaining full closure once the carrying phase was done. Ironhide didn't have this closure. _

_A sparkling was never abandoned before the war, either. There had never been any fear of losing a creator or a created. It just didn't happen. Ratchet had no idea what happened to Bumblebee's creators, but he had been very healthy when he came into Ironhide's care. He obviously had had a lot of love. He hadn't gained the closure he needed either. Having Bumblebee be carried by Ironhide couldn't hurt._

_Ratchet was curious to see what would happen. "Why don't you go ahead and let him in? It might help you."_

"_I did not come here for you to help __**me**__," Ironhide spat out. "I came here for you to help __**him**__."_

"_I think it'll make you feel better," Ratchet responded, unaffected by Ironhide's ire._

"_I feel better when I'm killing Decepticons," Ironhide snarled angrily._

"_Revenge is not the answer, Ironhide," Ratchet said._

_Ironhide glared daggers at him, "Can you help him or not? Otherwise, I'm done here."_

_Ratchet glared back, momentarily considering forcing the black mech to open his fragging chassis. However, Ironhide's sorrow was so palpable, that Ratchet thought he could feel it through their bond. _

_Ratchet was hopeful. If this worked, it would help __**both**__ of them. _

_He decided to take a softer approach. Ratchet's features softened and he laid a warm hand on Ironhide's shoulder._

"_Let him in, Ironhide," he said to him softly. _

_Ironhide lowered his head, staring at the floor, the sparkling screeching as loud as his little voice capacitor would allow him. It was amazingly loud for one so small. Ratchet couldn't help but notice that this youngling's cries were mirroring Ironhide's own feelings of despair. _

_After a moment, Ironhide finally opened his chassis. He placed the little yellow mech inside and closed him in. _

_Bumblebee stopped crying immediately, settling himself into the hold. Ironhide couldn't feel his spark. It was disconcerting. It wasn't like carrying Sunshadow at all. He could feel Bumblebee trying to attach himself to his spark casing, growing increasingly frustrated as he couldn't latch on._

"_This isn't going to work," Ironhide said sadly._

_After several tries, Bumblebee discovered that he wouldn't be able to attach. He accepted it, content to just ride, comforted by the physical warmth of the hold. Bumblebee then, unexpectedly, hugged Ironhide's spark casing, his hands holding onto the sides. He rubbed his cheek against it affectionately, before resting his head and chest against it. _

_Ironhide couldn't feel the youngling's spark in his own, but he could feel the warmth of his frame against his casing. He could physically feel the little face, and the little hands, and he could physically feel the vibrations of the little spark. _

_Ironhide's head shot up, the pure joy gleaming from his optics, even the blind one, being all that Ratchet needed to see._

"_You're welcome," Ratchet said to him. "Now, get out of here."_

_As Ironhide reached the door, Ratchet called out to him._

"_And Ironhide…"_

_Ironhide stopped, but he did not turn around._

"…_it's okay to move on."_

8888


	13. Matters of the Spark: Chromia

(posted Dec. 31, 2007) Happy New Year!

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters (such as Sunshadow) AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas (such as carrying), or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

And, WOW, thanks to the **REVIEWERS** for Chapter 12: **Phoenix13, hydraling110, lady tecuma, flamingmarsh, Embodiment of Sekhmet, theshadowcat, Bluebird Soaring, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Sunstreaker, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, dytabytes, staringsideways, meloveTransformers, VAwitch, plenoptic, MadameSoybean, Heartless-Jazz, Blume, Karategal, PyroP-Dawg, Dragowolf, JessyJazz, Hearts of Eternity, ArmoredSoul, ferretsareillegal, Xerios, Lecidre, ****KyuubiSango, Eowyn77, **and **Shizuka Taiyou****. **I love you guys!

Thanks for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: meloveTransformers, PyroP-Dawg, TClover427**

**[Story Alert]: Violet Light, meloveTransformers, PyroP-Dawg, thepheonixqueen**

**[Favorite Author]: meloveTransformers, grlwdgrntrk**

**[Author Alert]: meloveTransformers**

**CREDITS: **The fact that Bumblebee can feel both Megatron and Optimus in his spark is from **'Youngling'** by **Karategal**. There is a short mention that Ironhide almost lost BB once before Tyger Pax; that is also referenced from **'Youngling.'**

**Bold faced stuff** is personal bond interaction. _Italics_ are a flashback. Okay, so I've got a double flashback in this one. I know, very difficult to portray. I tried to make it as clear as possible, so this is what I've done...The flashback within a flashback is denoted by **777777777777777 **and is in _**bold faced italics**_.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 13

Matters of the Spark: Chromia

by Litahatchee

Chromia concentrated on the pulse-beat of Ironhide's spark. How long had it been since they just sat like this? He had leaned comfortably against the wall Bumblebee's berth swung down from, pulling Chromia and Bumblebee with him. Chromia was still resting her back comfortably against his chassis, but she had let Bumblebee go. She held onto him until her arms felt like they might fall off. Even then, she was reluctant to put him down. However, his head rested in her lap and his spark never lost contact with hers.

Chromia didn't know how long they sat there like that, but an eternity would not have been long enough for her. Ironhide made himself more comfortable as he began dozing off, waking ever so often to wrap his arms around her and nuzzle her gently. She concentrated on how his spark would quicken each time he came out of recharge. They had been apart for so long that each awakening felt like it was the first time he'd seen her. It was like he would forget while in recharge and then be pleasantly surprised to find her resting so gloriously close to his spark as he woke up.

And her spark was noticing, all too well. She felt him, his spark vibrating against her back, his thumb idly rubbing her arm. She wondered if he knew he was doing that. He hadn't shown her this much affection since…

She felt him stir again and then the quickening of his spark as his consciousness became aware of her, even though their sparks were aware of each other continuously. He wrapped his arms around her again.

"I don't want this to end," he whispered in her audio receptor.

She reached around and gently clasped the back of his head, pulling him closer to her face over her shoulder, and rubbed her cheek against his affectionately. He brought his hand up to caress her chin and then gently pulled her face around to gaze into her optics. He pressed his mouth plates against hers, massaging gently. Her spark quickened and she pulled away, all too aware of the youngling recharging in the berth with them. Primus, since when had her spark been this needy?

"**I tried to get you to let me have him go stay with Optimus,"** Ironhide practically sang to her through their bond, dragging out his taunt.

"**Don't mock me,"** she responded testily.

All that time without him and her needs never felt this strong. Well, she needed him as her systems grew weaker, and she certainly needed him because she missed him desperately, but she had never felt this desperate before. Not with him hardly over an Earth month and her spark demanded his continuously. Maybe it had to do with their proximity.

Well, thank Primus they were now able to control themselves, at least for now. She wondered how long it would take for their sparks to react like they did when she first arrived.

Bumblebee rolled over onto his side. His spark began pulsing erratically. Chromia could tell that he was suffering from the loss of an old bond, one that had been very strong. Then, there was another, more recent, loss that was even stronger. It almost felt like he had lost a sibling, but it was so recent that she was confused. There were so few Cybertronians left. Jazz didn't have a brother, did he?

Chromia reached down to rub his forehead and sent him comforting sensations. Ironhide felt what she was doing, the sensations reaching his spark as well. Chromia rubbed little circles on the side of Bumblebee's face, tracing his facial plating as his spark began to calm to its normal fluctuations. That's when she noticed something on Bumblebee's neck. She gently pushed his head to the side to get a better look. Her pump jumped in shock at the extensive scarring surrounding his neck.

"**Primus, Ironhide, what happened to him?"**

Ironhide flooded their bond with his love and Chromia nearly fell into it as she leaned into him. She realized this was becoming a common way for him to distract her. She had been accepting it, but now she pushed him out. She didn't want to shock him for fear of shocking Bumblebee, so she elbowed him in his chest-plate...hard. He grunted.

"**You're avoiding my question,"** she transmitted irritably.

Ironhide deflated. He had nearly lost Bumblebee twice, and this was the result of the second encounter. He drew air into his intakes and then, **"Megatron, he…"**

Chromia shuttered her optics. Had none of them escaped the claws of that mad-mech? Ironhide started to continue and she rose a hand to quiet him, trying to shield herself from the awful truth.

**"I've heard enough."**

Ironhide sent a wave of comfort to her through their bond, calming her, but only marginally. There was something else bothering her, something that had to do with their sparkling and closure and…guilt...

Chromia transmitted to him, **"Ironic, isn't it? The great Lord Megatron: killed by an inferior organic species; a youngling, at that. What did you say his name was?"**

"**Sam," **Ironhide answered, concern over why she felt guilty about Sunshadow permeating his CPU.

"**I want to meet him," **she said as she inspected Bumblebee's scars. They were old.

"**You will," **Ironhide looked away. He didn't want to think about what Megatron did to Bumblebee right now. That had been a very trying time. Poor mech had enough trying times to fill a universe.

She placed a gentle hand on one of the scars and Bumblebee whimpered, squirming away from her touch. She drew her hand back immediately, understanding all too well. His optics fluttered open. They were a very bright blue; the same color as Optimus's, she idly realized.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to him.

"It's okay," he responded in kind. "I just don't like to think about it."

Her spark began to ache for him. "I understand," Chromia said warmly.

Bumblebee lifted his hand and placed it over her spark. She started, but she allowed it.

"Why can I feel you?" he asked her after some length.

"Because I'm a femme and you're a youngling." She elbowed Ironhide again, not as hard but enough that he got her 'message.' Didn't they teach this bot anything?

It was a familiar feeling to Bumblebee, but he couldn't place it. It was different than what he felt from Optimus and Megatron. It wasn't as strong, but it was more comforting. All Bumblebee could think about was that the last time he felt this comfort, it went away while he was in recharge. He felt it before that recharge cycle. It had even comforted him into recharge. When he awoke, it was gone, but his spark never stopped searching for it. He didn't feel it again until he met Chromia.

Her spark began lulling him into sleep and he started, worried that she might disappear.

"Are you still going to be here when I wake up?" he asked her, concern in his voice.

Chromia laughed, what kind of question was that?

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm bonded to this one here," she elbowed Ironhide again, laughing.

Bumblebee just stared at her. He didn't get the joke. Her smile slowly faded and she just gathered him up in her arms again, her spark reaching out to reassure him. They really didn't teach him much about bonds at all. She glared at Ironhide, who just gave her an innocent stare, even shrugging. She shook her head at him. Mechs were such bit brains sometimes.

Bumblebee was soon back into recharge and Ironhide hugged her again. She leaned against him, reveling in the fact that she was holding a youngling while being caressed by her sparkmate. She hadn't been this happy in a long long time, not since…

She couldn't grasp it. It was all there, in the memories that Ironhide transferred to her from his CPU upload, but she couldn't grab onto it. She searched for it desperately...

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_Chromia laughed as Sunshadow began dragging his little digits along the inside of her chassis. It was tickling her, but he didn't know that. Or maybe he did, Chromia thought, smiling at the antics he was already displaying. He wanted to play, but she was trying to get to their domicile first. It wouldn't do to reveal that she'd been smuggling Ironhide's sparkling around Iacon for the last two vorns. _

_They were getting ready to reveal him, but Ironhide wanted to wait until they were done carrying him. She knew it was going to be quite a shock to everybody. Ironhide had such a bad reputation for his temperament, his compulsions, his intensity, his irrational and, most of the time, unreasonable actions…Well, the list went on. Reproduction had never been anything anyone expected from the mech. But then, nobody every expected he'd take on a sparkmate either. He was chock full of surprises. Chromia loved all of that about him, and more. Most failed to acknowledge Ironhide's capacity for love and his compassion for those that he considered his own, including more than just his family. _

_Sunshadow snapped her out of her reverie as he playfully bounced warm feelings through her spark and then began tapping on her spark casing, his little digits playfully begging for her to release him._

_She finally got to their home and was barely through the door before she swung open her chassis, laughing, "Hey you! Stop that!"_

_He giggled and hid his face against her spark casing. He slowly raised his optics, leaning back, and quickly hid them again when his met hers, giggling louder. He did this a couple of times, making no effort to get out of the hold. He just wanted to see her face. _

_Smiling, Chromia lay down on the berth as her sparkling continued his little game, his little spark humming with hers as he did so. He detached himself from her spark casing and crawled up to her face. He giggled as her mouth plates playfully tugged on his small digits. He threw his arms around her neck and hugged her with all his love, the hum of his spark growing louder as she washed him with warmth from her own. _

_He couldn't have been more perfect. He looked so much like Ironhide, yet his personality matched her own. Of course, what difference was there between her and Ironhide? However, she was thoroughly convinced that Ironhide's capacity for love was greater than hers, much greater. Sunshadow's love definitely matched his._

"_Ah wuv oo," he chirruped at her._

"_I love __**you**__," Chromia rubbed her nose plates against his and he laughed, hiding his face in the bend of her neck._

"_Ah wuv oo Mia," his little voice sang through her spark._

_She rolled over onto her side and he slid down onto the berth on his back. He clasped up at her face as she blew warm air from her vents onto him. His little feet clanked against her chest plating as she lightly tickled him and he laughed until he couldn't laugh any more._

_She rubbed his chassis, right over his spark, and he just stared up at her, his dark blue optics reminding her so much of Ironhide. It wasn't long before he shuttered them, dozing into recharge. _

_Chromia was amazed by him. He was everything to her. He was so small and vulnerable, needing his creators' chassis for protection and nourishment. She was so glad that Ironhide was agreeable to carrying their sparkling. She hadn't been sure how he was going to feel about it. It was very important to her and she couldn't do it alone. It was exhausting, and they took turns every other orn carrying him, but it was worth it. It was worth every nanosecond. She thought back to Ironhide's reaction upon first seeing the tiny spark...._

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**_Ironhide lay on his side, Chromia on her back. Her chassis was open and Ironhide was staring wide-optic'd at her spark, or rather, at the small spark next to her spark. It was pulsing in perfect rhythm with hers, nestled safely next to her own, inside her spark casing._**

"_**Wow," he said when he found his voice. **_

_**The tiny new spark pulsed quicker at the sound of him.**_

"_**Oh, Primus, can it hear me?" Ironhide 'breathed.' **_

_**It lit up this time. Ironhide reached into Chromia's spark casing and lightly rubbed the little spark. It grew even brighter. Ironhide's spark raced in excitement.**_

"_**He knows he's a part of you," Chromia whispered. "And you'll need to watch what you say around him when he gets his frame," she chided.**_

"_**It's a he?!" Ironhide's happiness overwhelmed her and the new spark for a moment.**_

"_**Hide," she laughed. "That's too much." **_

_**He tried to quell some of the intensity, but failed miserably.**_

"_**I can't help it," he tried to apologize. **_

_**She pulled him to her so his spark rested just above theirs. She absorbed his intensity, allowing the sparkling to feel only his deep love.**_

"_**How do you feel about carrying him?" she whispered in his audio receptor as he began stroking her face.**_

"_**If it's anything like this, I want to carry him forever," Ironhide responded as he gazed into her optics; his spark was actually resonating with **_**both**_** of theirs. **_

_**Ironhide never felt anything like it. Next to bonding with her, it was pure joy, pure contentment, unconditional love of the highest form.**_

"_**You're going to have to control yourself," Chromia said next.**_

"_**Me?!" Ironhide exclaimed with a knowing look. "HA!" **_

"_**Okay, both of us," she admitted.**_

_**They both had intense tempers they were going to need to watch around the sparkling. He was, no doubt, going to pick up on it anyway. Control was not a strong characteristic for either one of them. And Chromia realized, some time ago, that control was almost nil in Ironhide.**_

"_**First Aid agreed to build his first frame," Ironhide said after a few moments.**_

"_**First Aid?" Chromia sounded disappointed. "I thought we were going to get Ratchet to build it?"**_

"_**I can't talk to Ratchet," Ironhide growled, sitting up.**_

"_**You're holding a grudge against him, aren't you?" Chromia stayed where she was and reached over to rub his arm.**_

"_**No," he said, a little too defensively.**_

"_**Is it because he welded your cannon to your aft?"**_

"_**NO," he boomed. "And Hatchet did not **_**weld**_** my **_**cannon**_** to my **_**aft**_**!" **_

_**The sparkling grew brighter than Chromia's for a second, before becoming darker than hers.**_

_**Chromia sat up, closing her chassis to protect the little spark from his mech creator's flaring tempers. Ironhide looked horrified for a second, concerned he'd hurt it. He placed his hand on her chest.**_

"_**Remember," she said. "Control." **_

_**The sparkling was fine. He was going to see a lot of Ironhide's temperament, she knew. She then smiled at him mischievously, bringing the focus back to what Ratchet did.**_

"_**That's not what I heard," she said about Ironhide's adamant protest.**_

"_**Where do you hear these things?" he asked heatedly before adding, "And that's between me and Ratchet."**_

_**She just smirked at him.**_

"_**Fine, Ratchet can build his second frame," he grumbled.**_

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_Ironhide entered their domicile to find both his sparkmate and his sparkling recharging peacefully. He was carrying a weapon he had confiscated from a Decepticon from a small skirmish he was in earlier in the cycle. He placed it quietly on a nearby table. He wanted Chromia to look at it. He hadn't seen one like it before. It appeared to be home built. While it wasn't a very sophisticated rifle, it was very small, very interesting, and very effective. He thought, perhaps, Chromia might like to have it._

_He scooted into the berth behind her. She stirred and then found herself in his arms._

"_Hey, Chromia," he blew into her audio receptor seductively. _

_She felt his interfacing unit heating up as he pushed himself into her frame. They couldn't spark-bond during the carrying phase, so interfacing was becoming a new favorite. She turned to face him and noticed a few new scratches on his face._

"_Slag, have you been fighting?" She knew the answer already. Nothing made him want her more than a good fight. And, by the looks of it, he'd gone in face first._

"_There was a skirmish outside of Beta Nebulae," he said, shrugging it off. "I have something I want to show you," he added, thinking she'd be sorry she missed the fight._

_She looked into his optics, taking note of his mischievous grin._

"_You started it, didn't you?" she asked pointedly._

"_No," he said a little too quickly, his grin fading. "I didn't __**start**__ anything!" Okay, so, maybe she wasn't going to be sorry she missed it._

_She continued to stare at him, an optic ridge rising up after a moment. She could tell he was lying. She could feel it in his spark._

"_You can't keep secrets from me," she warned, glaring at him._

"_Okay, so, I may have...__**encouraged**__ them, a little," he admitted._

_Her glare became harder._

"_Okay, so I encouraged them __**a lot**__," he said._

_Her hard glare became daggers and, if their sparkling wasn't resting right there, she would have sent him a nice little shock._

"_Fine, I started it," he grumped. "When you hear about it from those sources of yours, it was my fault."_

"_Hide, you can't keep doing this. Don't you want Sunshadow to grow up on a peaceful Cybertron? Primus! My idiot sparkmate goes out and picks fights with the Decepticons during the cease-fire. That's just fragging great, Ironhide!"_

"_Oh come on, Chromia, it was just some harmless fun. Nobody got hurt." _

_He reached his arm around her waist and gently rolled her to her back as he rose above her. Oh, how her anger turned him on. _

"_I was bored," he said, nonchalantly, as he settled on top of her. "I confiscated an interesting little toy I think you'll like." _

_He sent her a little 'encouragement' of another kind._

_Chromia threw him off, unable to keep her anger from rising, his little 'encouragement' failing miserably._

_"What makes you think I want to interface right now?!" she said a little too loudly._

"_Interface!" they heard a tiny voice echo from beside them. _

_Two sets of startled optics turned to look at their, now, very wide awake sparkling._

"_Well, isn't that just..." she pushed Ironhide angrily. "...Adorable!" she spat out sarcastically. "He's going to have a vocabulary like __**yours**__!"_

"_You're the one that said it!" Ironhide exclaimed in defense of himself, followed by a small chuckle that only made her even more angry. _

_Sunshadow ran past them to get behind Ironhide and then 'attacked' his shoulder, growling playfully. Ironhide reached up and pulled him down in front of him, so now he was laying between them. Sunshadow let out a very Ironhide-like growl._

"_Where did he learn to do that?" Ironhide commented mock-innocently about Sunshadow's little 'attack' maneuver. _

_He laughed and began tickling the little growling mech, who kept grabbing his fingers and trying to hold them down in a mock sort of 'choke' hold._

"_Why don't _you_ tell_ me, _**Ironhide.**__" Chromia could see right through him. _

_She knew Ironhide wrestled with him when she wasn't looking. She repeatedly asked him not to; Sunshadow's frame was too fragile, and Ironhide wasn't always so careful. She wanted all that to wait until he got his stronger, second frame, which was soon._

"_Have you spoken with Ratchet yet?" she asked, her anger subsiding as she thought about getting ready for their sparkling's next phase of life in his second frame._

"_He's busy with the preparations for Kaon. I told him I needed to speak with him when we get back."_

"_I thought Optimus had that location changed," she said with some concern. _

_She knew they were hoping for an ambush, but she wasn't quite certain how it would turn out if they were in the Decepticon stronghold._

"_He's working on it," Ironhide sent her reassurance through their bond. _

_They were going to win this war and he was going to personally see to it that Sunshadow lived on a peaceful Cybertron._

_Sunshadow jumped up and hugged Ironhide's face, "Ah wuv oo Dide."_

_Ironhide hugged him back and he went to growling playfully again, 'pouncing' between them. He soon became tired and lay down, looking up at them, his spark humming contentedly. Chromia rolled him back and forth with her hand. Ironhide watched her as she gazed lovingly at their sparkling. _

_Ironhide wondered how he got so lucky. He felt like the luckiest mech on Cybertron. Chromia glanced up at him and caught his loving gaze. They stared at each other awhile, each thinking that he/she didn't know a Cybertronian could be this happy. He reached over Sunshadow and cupped her face in his large hand._

"_Interface!" Sunshadow suddenly squealed._

_Both Ironhide and Chromia laughed hysterically. He said the word perfectly. Chromia was the first to gain control._

"_That's not funny," she said, indignant._

_Sunshadow pushed on Ironhide's chassis until he opened it. Chromia's spark was exhausted. She watched as Sunshadow instinctively crawled inside Ironhide's hold. It was amazing. It was as if the sparkling knew she needed a break. Or maybe he knew he'd expended all the energy that he could get from her spark so now he was going for the more recharged one of the two. He'd be back as soon as he expended all he could from Ironhide. He blended in so well with Ironhide that all Chromia could see were his big, dark blue optics._

"_Don't let his spark corrupt you," Chromia said to Sunshadow playfully as she reached in to rub his head._

_Ironhide closed him in after he'd gotten comfortable and then pulled Chromia to him again, "__**My **__spark is going to corrupt him? I think __**you've **__caused enough damage for one orn."_

_Chromia harrumphed._

"_Ah wuv oo Mia," they could hear Sunshadow saying from inside of Ironhide's hold. They chuckled at him quietly. All three of their sparks resonated in unison, humming their love to each other._

_Ironhide caressed Chromia's face, pushing himself as close as he could get to her. _

_"I love you, Mia," he whispered to her. _

_Chromia had never been so happy in her entire life. Her joyous emotions overwhelmed her and, not for the first time since they'd created Sunshadow, she wept happily in Ironhide's arms._

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**A/N**: I know, this chapter was bitter sweet, but I hope you liked it anyway. It's supposed to be cute, if you can get past the fact that Sunshadow dies, EEKS! I wanted to show you some of their family insight, where they're coming from and all that.

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	14. Matters of the Spark: Bumblebee

(posted Jan. 13, 2008)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters (such as Sunshadow) AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas (such as carrying), or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Much love and thanks to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 13: **flamingmarsh, theshadowcat, Bluebird Soaring, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Fae Child19, ArmoredSoul, Dragowolf, Karategal, plenoptic, MadameSoybean, JessyJazz, Blume, ferretsareillegal, grlwdgrntrk, zumi, Phoenix13, P.A.W.07, lady tecuma, Xerios, Lecidre, Faecat, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.**

Thanks for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: ArmoredSoul, Phoenix13**

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**CREDITS: **The background relationship and information between Optimus, Megatron, and Bumblebee is from **'Youngling'** by **Karategal**. I am treating the events of 'Youngling' as if they are canon. That story is good enough to be official. I am grateful, beyond words, to Karategal for her inspiration and continued support of 'Night Fire.' THANK YOU!

**NOTE**: There's a lot going on in this chapter. The overall concern that Bumblebee has is 'acceptance.' I hope I was able to portray that. Also, keep in mind he's young, like a teenager, but a teenager who never knew his real family and the issues associated with that. He may even seem a bit younger in some cases, but that's because none of this has ever been explained to him.

The majority of this chapter is Bumblebee's point of view. This is what Bumblebee was doing/thinking after he ran into Chromia, during the two orns that Ironhide hadn't heard from him, during the time that Chromia spent in her much-needed state of recharge. Basically, the events of this chapter are occurring between chapters 10 and 11...

_Italics_ are a flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 14

Matters of the Spark: Bumblebee

by Litahatchee

The sum of all of Bumblebee's concerns and worries, about everything around and within him, especially the hopes that he had, came from his spark and the bonds contained within it. The strongest bonds that Bumblebee had ever been able to feel came from Optimus and Megatron. There was another, one that wasn't as strong, but one that was gone, leaving a painful void. He didn't know what all this meant and he didn't understand why. Optimus never explained it to him. He would reach out to Optimus or Optimus out to him, but as soon as he responded, Optimus would withdraw again…

He loved Optimus dearly and wanted to embrace the relationship for what his spark told him it was, but something was wrong. Optimus wouldn't embrace him back. The mech he was closest to, the one he loved with his entire spark, Ironhide, he couldn't feel at all. It was confusing and sometimes very frustrating. Bumblebee carried this burden with him his entire life.

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**Two weeks, one orn, prior to Ironhide's Tickle Torture:**

After meeting the femme, Bumblebee became so excited that he wanted to tell Sam. He wanted to tell Sam how beautiful she was. He wanted to tell Sam how she was Ironhide's, his guardian's, sparkmate. He didn't know what all was involved with that, but, for him, it meant that he had a mother! It didn't matter to him that she wasn't his real femme creator.

Family was very important to Bumblebee. Ironhide had always marveled at how strong Bumblebee's sense of family was, even though the little bot never knew his real family. But, then, that was probably why he felt so strongly about it.

It was the femme's spark that amazed Bumblebee the most. He could actually feel it and she responded to him! It was strangely familiar and wonderfully comforting. Bumblebee wanted to stay with her for forever.

However, Bumblebee quickly became concerned as his CPU became clouded with doubt. What if she didn't like him? What if she rejected him? And Ironhide never told Bumblebee about her... Why? It was obvious that Ironhide never told his sparkmate either.

Femmes were rare, very rare, and Bumblebee knew why. He didn't know the details, for probably the same reason he didn't know the details of what happened to all the younglings, but he knew it was very, very bad. He also knew that Megatron was responsible. Megatron was responsible for the whole war.

Bumblebee was the last youngling. The mechs around him had always protected him with their own lives. He was important to them, but he didn't really feel all that important. One time, when he was very young, Megatron found out about him. He came after him, much to Ironhide's elevated distress. At that point in his life, he had never known Ironhide to be that afraid before.

Bumblebee could never feel the mech's spark, but Ironhide's concern was so great that Bumblebee could feel it through the bond that they did have. It was also the first time Bumblebee had seen him fight. Ironhide was positively ruthless, and very scary, but it was all out of his desperation to save Bumblebee, and Bumblebee understood that. Bumblebee was certain that Ironhide would have given his own life, if it had come down to it.

Bumblebee remembered how Megatron just kept coming and how puzzled Ironhide had been over that. No matter where they hid, Megatron still found them. Then, Bumblebee whispered to Ironhide that he could feel Megatron. Bumblebee wished that he could have felt Ironhide's spark at that moment. The shock he remembered seeing on the mech's face was burned into his CPU forever. Ironhide never spoke of it, and Bumblebee never revealed it to anyone ever again. As such, no one else ever knew.

Ultimately, it had been Optimus who had saved them. Bumblebee remembered Megatron telling Optimus that he knew what Optimus had done. Bumblebee never understood any of it, but Ironhide knew enough about bonds to know it meant that Bumblebee had a connection to Megatron. Ironhide never explained bonds to the young mech. Neither did Optimus, for that matter. Perhaps they had done that on purpose, to protect him from that truth.

He may not have known much about spark related bonds, but he figured that if one could feel the spark of another, then that meant they were connected in some way. Even though no one had ever taught him much about it, he knew, deep down, that this is what it meant. Bumblebee was related to the worst tyrant their race had ever known. Perhaps all of this was why Ironhide never told his sparkmate about Bumblebee.

Another possibility occurred to him; was Ironhide ashamed of him because of this connection? And if he was related to Megatron, then perhaps she would not be able to accept him, not after what Megatron did to the femmes. The connection he had to Megatron suddenly made him feel somewhat responsible. He was afraid that she might think the same thing.

However, Bumblebee could feel Optimus's spark just as strongly, if not stronger. When Bumblebee was younger, he always had access to Optimus's spark. Optimus always responded to him. They interacted regularly, lovingly, and he could feel Optimus most of the time. However, as he got older, Optimus became more withdrawn. Without the interaction that he was used to and needed, Bumblebee began to suffer from separation. It kept building and building until it seemed that Bumblebee had lost the bond altogether.

Having lost the connection with Optimus, Bumblebee was reminded of another strong connection to a spark that he had had when he was only a sparkling. It was as if Optimus himself had been filling this particular void, but when Optimus was closed off, the void crept back, in addition to the void that Optimus had created when he was closed off. The hollowness he felt inside made him feel utterly alone.

Then, when Megatron died, Bumblebee's spark suffered from that loss as well, a loss that left a void greater than any other in his spark. However, that bond had been so strong that his spark was physically in pain. It was the most recent loss that he was suffering from. He felt actual grief, grief that was so great that the pain in his spark was unbearable at times. Optimus started reaching out to him again, trying to sooth and comfort the grief and pain that this new void created. When Optimus did this, Bumblebee responded without abandon, trying to gain a full connection, but Optimus would withdraw again, closing him off. It all pained Bumblebee greatly, especially because he didn't fully understand why.

Bumblebee knew...

Bumblebee knew who Optimus was to him. Bumblebee had been the one to retrieve the AllSpark...

...and he asked...

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_The AllSpark: It was a divine, all-powerful, all-knowing entity that couldn't be explained. It had been studied extensively by Cybertronian scientists and its power, its energy, its very presence was still unfathomable. To be in its presence was indescribable. _

_Bumblebee knew what he wanted to do. It had been the second time that he stood in its presence. He never imagined that he would get this chance again._

_He had been with Optimus the first time, which was when Optimus had told him that The AllSpark carried all the answers. This confused Bumblebee, because if that was true, then why were they at war? Optimus explained to him that they had to allow the course of their lives to take place. If that meant that the course of one life was to create war, then it would happen. There would be another life whose course it would be to try and prevent it. They were all individual beings, all programed with their own functions and will. There was a balance that existed between all of them. The AllSpark created these individual beings, who, then, were able to create other individual beings. _

_Not only could the AllSpark create new life, but it knew everything about the past, present, and future of every Cybertronian life that had already been created, within it and without it, to include all beings created by bonded pairs. Optimus had warned him that the future should not be tampered with. Doing so could destroy them all. This was yet another reason that Megatron must never gain control of the AllSpark. One had to let the future happen, allow the course of their life to take place, no matter what the outcome may be._

_The future was not on Bumblebee's mind as he had approached the AllSpark the second time, in the place where the humans had built the Hoover Dam around it. As he moved toward it, slowly and reverently, his immediate concern was not the present either, though he knew he needed to hurry, especially with Megatron in the next room. _

_Bumblebee had spent his entire life wondering who his creators were. He had only one question that ever meant anything to him:_

_"Where did I come from?"_

_He wasn't even sure if the AllSpark would answer him, if it could answer him that directly. Optimus hadn't told him how to get the answers, just that it had the answers. So, when he touched it, to transform it into a more portable object, like Optimus had shown him many many vorns earlier, Bumblebee tentatively allowed his CPU interfacing line to unwind out of his hand. He hesitated; he didn't know if interfacing was the way to communicate with it, but it seemed logical. He hardly had the line ready before the AllSpark itself had grabbed onto it, pulling it in, as if by some magnetic force, the connection being made. _

_Bumblebee was taken aback as the AllSpark explored every byte of his being, taking everything in from his CPU to his frame, but not to any dismay from Bumblebee. It was almost as if the AllSpark didn't know him at all, which puzzled Bumblebee, as Optimus had said that it knew every Cybertronian. Bumblebee felt something from it, something that he couldn't quite grasp. The best way he could describe it was...kindred._

_The feeling passed and once it had downloaded everything about Bumblebee, it knew his burning question before he could even ask it himself. After a few more astroseconds of exploring, it knew the answer. The AllSpark flooded Bumblebee with reassurance, before giving him only one name, the name of the mech that Bumblebee's own spark already knew to be the answer, but never understood..._

_...Optimus Prime._

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Optimus didn't know that Bumblebee knew. Bumblebee didn't know how or why Optimus did it, but he knew his mech creator was Optimus Prime. The AllSpark hadn't told him who his femme creator was, nor if he even had one. At the time, he was too overjoyed with the knowledge that he belonged to Optimus to inquire any further. It made complete sense. No wonder there was such a strong spark-bond between them. He would have known that, had he known more about bonds. It all created more questions, questions that he wanted to ask Optimus.

After this revelation or, rather, confirmation, Bumblebee tried latching on to Optimus's spark. Again, he loved Optimus dearly and he wanted to embrace the relationship for everything that it was supposed to be. Bumblebee was not an abandoned youngling after all! His creator had been there all along! Bumblebee had been overjoyed! However, the more Bumblebee tried, the more withdrawn Optimus became. Bumblebee was becoming very confused and worried.

Why wasn't Optimus embracing him as his creation? Megatron was dead. The war seemed to be at an end. There had been plenty of opportunities. Was Optimus protecting him from something, or was Optimus ashamed of him too? Perhaps he wasn't worth Optimus's time and efforts. Maybe he didn't deserve to be the creation of Optimus Prime.

So, as the Earth years passed them by, Bumblebee kept his questions to himself.

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Bumblebee felt completely alone. When he had nowhere or no one else to turn to, he turned to Sam.

Sam's college wasn't that far away, but it was still a good half day's drive, so Bumblebee thought of all of his worries along the way. He decided that he would tell Sam. They were best friends, after all. Perhaps finally being able to tell someone might make him feel better about it.

Sam no longer lived in the dorms, so Bumblebee drove up to his apartment complex. He lived on the top floor. Bumblebee tried calling him, but Sam didn't answer his phone. He revved his engine several times, still no answer. He wondered if throwing a rock would work. He saw that on a movie once, where someone threw a stone at a window in order to get the attention of the person inside. Bumblebee looked around. He could just transform and stand up. The window was optic level with him, but there were a few people about. He wondered how he could throw a rock without transforming.

Perhaps he could just reach a hand out without transforming completely. He saw Ratchet do something like that, recently. He stuck a leg out of his vehicle form in order to trip an unsuspecting Ironhide, who happened to be walking past Ratchet at that particular moment. Bumblebee rarely saw any of them play, especially Ratchet and Ironhide, but Ratchet was gone, laughing, before Ironhide could pick himself up off the ground, who transformed into his own vehicle mode to chase after him.

Bumblebee decided to try it. He concentrated on getting his right hand, the side of his vehicle form that was away from prying eyes, to transform without the rest of his body. It was hard to do, but he finally got it. He had to raise himself up a little bit off of the ground, as he couldn't prevent his upper body from partially transforming. There was a car parked to the left of him and the top of his car form remained intact. No one noticed, but if anyone had they would have only seen the top portion of the car anyway. Its raised elevation made the Camaro look like it was tricked out with bigger wheels. Smiling to himself, Bumblebee grabbed a rock that lay on the curb next to him.

'This ought to get Sam's attention,' he thought to himself.

He chucked the rock at the window...

Now, in the movie, the rock deflected off the window with a little tinkling noise and fell back to the ground where the person that threw it had stood. However, in this case, the rock blew right through the window and into the room beyond, making a loud shattering noise that made Bumblebee cringe.

"Ooops," he said out loud.

The glass had completely shattered upon impact, thousands of spidery fractures streaking out in all directions. The glass hung like that for a second, before completely falling apart, shards of glass falling to the ground and into the room. The few humans that were in the parking lot turned to see where the noise had come from.

Bumblebee subspaced his hand immediately. If he were in robot mode, his optics would have been wide with surprise. He thought about what he did wrong for a second…Perhaps the rock in the movie was much smaller than that...

However, it worked! The light to the room came on and someone came to the window…

…someone that Bumblebee didn't know...

'That's not Sam,' he thought to himself.

He looked around; it looked like he was at the right place. The parking lot looked right. The curbs were all facing the same way as in the parking lot of Sam's apartment complex, even the trees and the grass were where they should be. And that was where Sam's window usually was...

Bumblebee rechecked the number on the building, the only thing about the place that **wasn't right**.

He was at the **wrong** apartment complex! Slag, they all looked **exactly the same**!

The person at the window hefted a huge rock, the size of a bowling ball, up to the window sill of the now completely gone window. He yelled at the people below, "Who threw this?! You could have killed me!" The unfortunate student wondered how anyone could throw something that heavy that far anyway. He half expected to see a catapult in the parking lot.

Bumblebee's hologram whistled to himself. Yea, that rock was way too big. He had obviously misjudged the size difference between himself and a human. It hadn't looked that large to him when he picked it up. He drove slowly out of the parking lot in order not to bring any attention to himself, which isn't easy when one's vehicle mode is a bright yellow Camaro. Bumblebee would have given anything to be a beige Kia at that moment, **any **beige Kia.

---

Bumblebee finally arrived at the correct apartment building and found himself in the same situation as before. He parked in the same place and Sam wasn't answering his phone. He wasn't about to try the rock thing again, especially since he couldn't tell the difference between a pebble and a boulder. He looked around. Nobody was there, so he felt it wouldn't hurt to just stand up and tap on the Sam's window.

Bumblebee checked the number of the apartment building to be sure, before he transformed and rose up to the window to peer inside. It was the right place. He looked around, all of his surroundings exactly the same as the other apartment, down to the last tree. He idly wondered why humans built places in this way. There was no imagination whatsoever. Humans were creatures of habit, he guessed.

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Sam was still dating Mikaela. She visited as often as she could, but that wasn't often enough for Sam. So, when she was in town, his full attention was on her…about her…revolved around her…in her…which was exactly where he was about to be when he suddenly saw a blue light dance into the room. He looked toward his window and saw two bright blue glowing orbs...

"Bumblebee?!" He and Mikaela yelled at the same time.

They were both naked, of course, and he tried to roll off of her to jump under the covers. However, they were closer to the edge of the bed than he realized and he rolled the wrong way, finding himself falling to the floor with a loud 'thud.' Mikaela was jumping under the covers as he stood up. He rubbed at a painful knot that was forming on his head. She started giggling.

"Hello Bumblebee," she said from under the covers.

"Bumblebee, you scared the shit out of me! I thought aliens were coming to abduct us or something." Sam thought about that statement and smiled at his very alien friend, who was holding his hand out.

"Hurry!" Bumblebee said as softly as possible, looking around the parking lot to make sure no one was coming.

"He's abducting us after all!" Mikaela laughed.

"Just wait a minute," Sam said to him as he searched for his clothes.

Bumblebee watched them as they floundered around for their clothing. Mikaela glanced at him.

"Do you have to watch us get dressed?" She asked him.

Sam looked up at Mikaela and then at Bee, "Um, you can transform. We'll meet you in the parking lot."

Bumblebee's face disappeared from the window as he transformed back into his vehicle mode.

"He seems to be stressed out. Wonder what's wrong with him?" Mikaela asked.

"I don't know," Sam responded, worried that he was there to tell them the Decepticons had returned, or something just as equally terrifying.

---

Due to his association with the Autobots, Sam acted as a liaison for them, but to a limited capacity. He was really only made a liaison due to his association with Bumblebee. He very rarely had to deal with the government and he was even more rarely involved in anything considered 'official' regarding the Autobots. If anything needed to be communicated, he usually only dealt with Will Lennox, who acted as the 'real' liaison for the Autobots, either over the phone or directly, but that was as far as Sam's role went.

However, being a liaison to an alien species, even as limited as the role was, had its perks. He made it known that he wanted to go to college, after he graduated from high school. The government was right on it and offered him a full scholarship to anywhere he wanted to go. Bumblebee still wanted to stay with him and Sam wanted to stay close to the Autobots, so he chose the college nearest to both the Autobot base and Will Lennox's home.

He soon learned that, just because he was in college, it didn't mean that the government wanted him to shirk his duties as liaison. He thought that was funny, especially since he didn't really do anything anyway. It was probably more likely a control thing. "Here's a scholarship to anywhere, but let us know what you're doing at all times, and keep an eye on that 'car' of yours."

Yea, Sam wasn't an idiot. He was fairly certain that they were all being spied on continuously. There was probably somebody out there that knew every time he took a piss. He was definitely sure that they tracked every movement of Bumblebee, no matter what the situation, even if all he was doing was moving from one end of the same parking lot to another. He figured the surveillance over the Autobots was probably insanely obsessive. As such, he was certain that they knew that Bumblebee was here with him, right now.

---

Bumblebee thought he knew more about human reproduction than Cybertronian reproduction. As he waited for his human friends, he idly wondered how they never had any children from all that mating they were always doing.

Sam and Mikaela finally got down to the parking lot, fully clothed. Bumblebee opened his doors and they hopped in.

"Hey, did you bring my CDs?" Sam asked.

They had barely gotten out of the parking lot before Bumblebee started telling them about his run in with something called a 'femme' and that he left the CDs where they fell. Sam was immediately relieved, however. There was no mention of Decepticons or any threats from the government, not that he could do anything about any of it if there were. He wasn't worried about his CDs, either. He would get them later.

When Sam had first gotten to college, they found an abandoned warehouse where Bumblebee could transform and not be seen. Bumblebee took them there and they got out, allowing him to get into his robot mode.

They all sat in silence awhile. Bumblebee had already told them about all the femmes being wiped out by Megatron, and the younglings too. Sam and Mikaela weren't exactly surprised, especially since so few of the species survived the war, but it was still hard to hear.

Mikaela was the first one to break the silence. "So, what are you worried about? If she's the last femme and you're the last youngling, I'd think she would adore you. It sounds like she was very happy to see you. If I were the last female on Earth and found a child, I would never let go of it." She gave him a reassuring smile.

Bumblebee looked at the floor, tracing a crack in the concrete with his finger. "I, uh, I don't know if she'll like **me,** though."

"Why not? I mean, what's not to like? You're an awesome friend, a great companion. Ironhide raised you, right? I mean, if he could like you, anybody could," Sam said.

Mikaela glared at him.

"What? Seriously, Ironhide is an ass hole. He's mean to everybody... but not Bumblebee."

"Well, he must be doing something right if this femme is married to him," Mikaela countered.

"What?!" Sam looked at her, thinking her assessment of the femme was ridiculous. Who would marry Ironhide?

"What did you say she said she was to him? His sparkmate?" Mikaela asked Bumblebee while looking at Sam, trying to make her point.

"Yes, that's what she said," Bumblebee answered.

"You don't even know what that means!" Sam continued, speaking to Mikaela.

Mikaela rolled her eyes at him. "Well let's look at it, Sam: Spark…Mate. The 'mate' part kind of clues me in. Come on, college boy," she said sarcastically. She then looked up at Bumblebee, "What do you think, Bumblebee?"

"I'm not really sure," Bumblebee admitted, "but she came out of his room, like she'd been waiting for him or something."

"And she was excited to see you?" Mikaela felt that they were getting off of the real subject here, so tried to steer it back to be focused on Bumblebee.

"Yes, very excited. I could even feel it in her spark."

"What does that mean?" Sam asked next, but Mikaela interrupted him.

"Sam, it doesn't matter. He's asking us if we think she'll reject him and we're trying to tell him she won't." She gave him a pleading look, her eyes suggesting for him to stop being stupid and quit saying things that were only making it worse.

"You're the one that started it," Sam said defensively, as she was the one that got off of the subject first, "with all that crap about Ironhide being married."

"What I'm trying to tell you," Mikaela tried again, looking at Bumblebee, "is that she was happy to see you when she came out of that room. She was happy to see a living…um, youngling, or whatever they call you."

Mikaela always found it amusing that Bumblebee was considered a child, especially since he was older than civilization itself. She couldn't fathom how old the other Autobots must be.

"…So, well, of course she likes you!" she added.

"I don't think she'll like me when she finds out," Bumblebee said next.

He had the full attention of both humans now. He couldn't say it. Bumblebee was beginning to think he'd made a mistake in coming here. How could he tell them something that he didn't even understand? Would they reject him too?

"Finds out what?" Sam prompted. Bumblebee was silent, but the look in his optics worried Sam. He didn't know what all the spark stuff was or what a femme was or what Ironhide was to her, but he didn't like to see his friend unhappy. "You know, you can tell us anything. We won't tell anybody."

"And we won't tell the femme," Mikaela helped. They hardly saw any of the others anyway. There would be no reason to say anything to anyone.

"Are you sure?" Bumblebee asked.

"Anything for you, Bee," Sam smiled at him.

"Okay, well…" Bumblebee drew air into his intakes and let it out slowly. "I think…well, I think Megatron was my brother." The last part came out as a whisper.

The humans just stared at him a second…and then their jaws dropped... at the same time. Bumblebee immediately wished he could take it back. He knew he shouldn't have told them. He should have just kept it to himself.

"Wow, um," Mikaela said, speechless for once.

"What do you mean, you 'think' he was your brother?" Sam asked.

"I don't really know," Bumblebee said next.

"How, uh, how can you not know?" Mikaela found her voice.

"I could feel him in my spark. It means we're connected somehow; I just don't know how. It was strong, though, so I think he must have been my brother."

"Oh, my God," Sam said next. "I killed your brother."

"No you didn't. You can't blame yourself for that," Mikaela said in Sam's defense.

"Yes, I did! He just said he was his brother! Bumblebee, I'm so sorry!"

Bumblebee looked at them in surprise. This was unexpected. He thought that Sam and Mikaela were going to reject him, possibly even run away. He didn't think he would find himself soothing Sam for Megatron's death. He hadn't even realized that Sam would feel bad about killing somebody that was so evil. Bumblebee became happy, ecstatic even, as it meant that the humans weren't going to hold it against him.

"Sam, it's okay," Bumblebee said quickly. "What choice did you have? He would have taken over the Earth! He needed to be destroyed."

Bumblebee didn't tell them that he was actually sad that Megatron was gone, but his words made him think of that. He wished that Megatron hadn't needed to be destroyed. The connection never really bothered him. It was acceptance from the others that he was concerned about. He was afraid that if they knew, then they wouldn't accept him. If his own creator wouldn't accept him, then how would the others?

Sam thought about Bumblebee's words; he had a point there. Sam felt better already, but Bumblebee still looked positively miserable.

"I still don't understand why you think the femme will reject you, Bee. I really don't think you need to worry about this. She's going to love you for what you are, not who you're related to," Mikaela said next.

Mikaela thought she was starting to understand Bumblebee's concern with the femme.

"Bumblebee?" she asked. "You don't feel responsible for what Megatron has done, do you?"

Bumblebee looked at the ground again and slowly nodded his head.

Mikaela suddenly felt very, very sad. If he really felt that way, then he was putting a huge burden on himself. She felt bad for him.

"You shouldn't feel that way," she said to him. "That's not how relationships work. He may be your brother, but that doesn't mean that what he's done is your fault. You weren't even born yet when all that happened."

A horrible thought occurred to Bumblebee. The thought wasn't really horrible, in and of itself, but the implications of it frightened him. What if the AllSpark had told him wrong? He remembered how it felt, like the AllSpark didn't know him. If it didn't know him before that moment, it seemed possible that it could have made a mistake...

Instead of Optimus, what if Megatron was his mech creator?

Another possibility would be that perhaps the AllSpark would believe that he wouldn't be able to handle that knowledge, so gave him the name of the other spark that he was so strongly connected to; the spark that was good, caring, and loving. He didn't think the AllSpark could lie, but then, maybe the AllSpark wouldn't consider it a lie. The two sparks were virtually the same. They were Cybertronian siblings, connected in every way. The AllSpark could consider Bumblebee the youngling of either one of them.

"But what if he's not my brother?!" Bumblebee suddenly blurted. "What if he's my mech creator?! I mean, it's different if he's like my father, isn't it?" The idea didn't really repulse him, but Bumblebee began to despair, because he felt the possibility of acceptance slipping away. "She'll never accept me!"

"Wait," Sam interrupted him. "Isn't Optimus his brother?"

"What?" Mikaela.

"Yea, that's what he called him when Megatron died. Optimus even told him that he was sorry."

"Well, that would mean that Optimus is your brother too, wouldn't it?" Mikaela asked excitedly. "And that's a good thing! Obviously she accepts Optimus. He is Prime, after all."

Mikaela suddenly realized how strangely familiar it all sounded. Two brothers, locked in eternal battle. It sort of reminded her about how the human race started. It reminded her of Cain and Abel, the first human struggle, and how that fight split the human race into two separate schools of thought. It may or may not be a myth, but it was very much like Optimus and Megatron, with their separate ideals, leading two separate factions; the Autobots and the Decepticons. She realized this was getting very complicated. Bumblebee needed to be discussing this with one of his own, someone who truly understood what it all meant.

"Talk to her," Mikaela said quietly. "You should talk to the femme. I think you're worrying about this too much."

Mikaela suddenly felt like they weren't really qualified to help Bumblebee. She really had no idea what a surviving Autobot femme would think. And she had no idea why Ironhide wouldn't tell Bumblebee about her. Bumblebee had told them about how Ironhide had never told him about his sparkmate. Thankfully, that hadn't come up again.

Mikaela tried to imagine what it would be like to be that femme: as far as they knew, she was the only female left, who believed all children were dead, gone forever, all killed by a maniacal ruler. Then, she finds what's left of her people, overjoyed to find that a child lives among them, only to find that her husband had a secret that he had raised said child. Then, as it turns out, the child had a secret of his own. He may be the son of the greatest killer their race has ever known.

How would she feel about that? It was almost unfathomable. It would be an understatement to say that there would probably be some uncertainty there. Mikaela's heart went out to both Bumblebee and the femme. It was almost too much, even for her, to bear.

"She'll like you," Sam added helpfully, feeling just as helpless about Bumblebee's situation as Mikaela was feeling. "She won't reject you, Bumblebee. You're Bumblebee! Everybody loves Bumblebee!"

Bumblebee suddenly felt very happy. Sam's excitement was contagious. If he could smile, he would have, but Sam and Mikaela could see his smiling optics. They knew how to make him feel better.

"See?" Sam added. "You look better already."

"Just talk to her," Mikaela said again, hoping that this femme would be willing to help and accept him, only being able to grasp a tiny cusp of how hard it would be if she were that femme.

The whole situation, all of it, seemed hopeless. They were going to become extinct. Mikaela hoped that the femme and Ironhide, as crazy as it seemed that he would be the one, could bring hope to the species. Poor Bumblebee, thinking that he was somehow responsible for the predicament that the Autobots, all Cybertronians, were in. She wondered how Optimus felt about it. She also wondered if any of the others had any of these surviving 'mates.'

888888888888888

…After that was when Bumblebee had walked in on Ironhide and Chromia. He didn't know what Ironhide and Chromia were doing, but if it had anything to do with what Sam and Mikaela were doing, then he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He knew that sort of thing resulted in a baby human, but a Cybertronian? Was that how he was created? He had so many questions…

It quickly became apparent that Ironhide wasn't about to start answering any of them either, gruffly telling Bumblebee, "You know where your berth is."

Yea, Bumblebee knew what that meant: 'Quit asking me questions and go to sleep.' Ironhide's gruffness never bothered Bumblebee. He was used to the ornery mech. Bumblebee would talk to the femme later. He was overjoyed at how happy she was that he was there. That was enough for him... And her spark was completely open to him.

Chromia...

Chromia was her name. Bumblebee wondered if anyone had ever called her "Mia." It sounded so beautiful, just like her. It also sounded very motherly, like what the human children called their mothers: "Mom," or "Ma," "Mama."

Bumblebee's spark skipped happily, "Mia." He wondered if she would mind if he called her that.

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* * *

**A/N**: I mean no offense to anybody who drives a Kia. I was just trying to find the most ordinary vehicle type possible, and 'Kia' popped in my mind. I rather like the Kia myself, actually. Also, I'm not trying to portray the AllSpark as a god. I figure they would feel that sort of reverence for something that appears to be that 'all-knowing,' however.

WHEW, wipes brow, the organization of that was tough!

I know some of you are confessed BB haters (big smile). He is a part of this story, though, and I thought this would be a good way to expand on him.

8888


	15. The Being and The Sparkling

(posted Jan. 27, 2008)

**Disclaimer**: See disclaimer on ch. 14. I own Sunshadow, and the idea of carrying, and the plot of this story, so please **ASK** if you want to use any of it. I spent A LOT of time on these ideas and this story, so a bit of credit, if you use any of it in your story, is expected and much appreciated. Never use any author's story or ideas without his/her permission.

Thanks a million to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 14: **flamingmarsh, ladyjet2, theshadowcat, Bluebird Soaring, Fae Child19, Dragowolf, badgerwolf, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, ArmoredSoul, Hearts of Eternity, Karategal, MadameSoybean, Blume, plenoptic, Cricket24, grlwdgrntrk, lady tecuma, ishvari1, ferretsareillegal, Xerios, Lecidre, ****Ponta Pie, KyuubiSango, **and **Shizuka Taiyou****.**

Thanks for adding me and my story to your:

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**[Favorite Author]: ix Lady Optimus Prime ix, flamingmarsh**

_Italics _are a flashback. This entire chapter is a flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 15

The Being and The Sparkling

by Litahatchee

_The tiny sparkling of bright yellow wiring heard a beautiful voice. The little mech knew that voice. __He knew it very well. _

_His spark leaping with excitement, The Sparkling became eager to be held in the warm, comforting embrace this Being always exhibited towards him. _

_The Being began to sing, a sound that caused The Sparkling's spark to rejoice. _

"_Fi-yure!" The Sparkling squealed cheerfully. _

_A face of unbridled beauty appeared over The Sparkling, as The Being it belonged to swept the tiny mech into its arms. Its voice continued to sing to him. He reached out to its mouth-plates, the melody enchanting him in its splendor. The Being's spark enveloped him in warmth and love, joy and happiness. It knew, all too well, the horrors of this universe. This sparkling would find himself a part of it, all too soon. _

_But, for now… _

_For now, for the brief time that they shared, there was just the two of them. For The Being and The Sparkling, there was no such thing as 'Decepticon' or 'Autobot;' there was no such war between the two main factions of the Cybertronian race._

_For now, The Being would show The Sparkling pure, unconditional love. Before the time came, he would know. He would know that his world wasn't all war and hate. He would know joyfulness. He would know happiness and bliss. He would know a soothing spark. He would know comfort. He would know a soft, gentle touch. He may not understand it, but The Being was going to see to it that The Sparkling knew it. _

_The Being knew The Sparkling's creator would, and has, shown him all of these things. However, his sole creator was a mech. There was only so much a mech could provide for a youngling. Everything else was provided by a femme. There were very few Cybertronians in existence that didn't know the nurturing comfort of a femme, albeit varying degrees. A femme provided a foundation. It couldn't always be explained, but a femme's love, devotion, and comfort, her nurture and support, were all different from a mech's. A mech could provide these things too, but only a femme possessed the tenderness that allowed these things to fully encompass another, to fully weave it all into another's very being until it became ingrained in the other's very essence, another's very character, never to be lost. It could be buried, sure, but never completely taken away. _

_A hint of sadness was felt by The Sparkling, but only for an astrosecond, as The Being willed its grief away. The Being hoped that, one day, The Sparkling would know another spark like the one that pulsed in its own chassis. The Sparkling's creator had a wonderful sparkmate. If only this creator would pull his head out of his aft. His sparkmate could continue to nurture The Sparkling once The Being was gone. The Being felt that this was how it ought to have been from the beginning anyway. The Being understood what The Sparkling's creator was doing, however. It was in his programming to be so protective. He was a mech, after all. However, that didn't mean The Being had to agree. _

_The Being felt that they would all be stronger if they all just stuck it out together. The mech felt that hiding and anonymity would better protect his loved ones. He had other, more obvious, reasons, such as not employing the help of his bonded to create this beautiful sparkling. The Being shook its head and sighed sadly, annoyingly even, but it understood. They had all suffered so much._

_In the end, The Being really didn't know what the answer ought to be. Neither The Being nor The Sparkling's creator really knew the answer, or if there even __**was**__ an answer. Both of their worlds had been torn asunder. _

_**All**__ of their worlds had fallen apart. All certainty and stability had completely vanished. At this point, no one had __**any**__ answers._

_However, this sparkling was proof that there was hope. The Sparkling's creator may not know how to handle this with his sparkmate, but, by doing this, he was going to bring hope to his Autobots... _

_...Hope that they all needed..._

_...Hope that would give them the will, the desire, to continue to fight for their cause..._

_...Hope that would give them the will to continue..._

_...Hope that demanded a reason to move on..._

_No one knew of The Sparkling, just yet, but soon... _

_And The Being knew..._

_The Being knew, exactly, who ought to care for The Sparkling from then on._

_The Being brought The Sparkling up to its face and nibbled on his little nose. The Sparkling giggled delightedly, grabbing at The Being's face-plates. The Being's spark overwhelmed him with joyous sensations, its soft touch becoming tickling digits which soon had The Sparkling squirming in laughter in its grasp. _

_The Being laughed too, a sing-song sound, the feeling of which was reflected in its spark. The Sparkling made The Being so very happy. The Being made The Sparkling so very happy, as well. The Sparkling made optic contact with The Being. _

_The gleaming, bright blue, optics of The Sparkling met the radiant, deep crimson, optics of The Being, each spark encompassing the other in pure, unconditional love... _

_...Neither 'Autobot' nor 'Decepticon'__..._

_...but 'Cybertronian'..._

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	16. Ironhide Can Fix Anything

(posted Feb. 3, 2008)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters (such as Sunshadow) AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas (such as carrying), or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I had a large rant here about professionalism and common courtesy to and from other FF authors. I removed it on Feb. 8th, because I felt it was taking away from the chapter. However, it still needs to be said, so I moved it to my BioPage. I even had one reviewer to review the rant! HAHAHA! Thank you!

The reviews were very entertaining this last time. Some of you got it spot on and some of you thought The Being is Primus. I love you guys! Thank you so much to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 15: **lady tecuma, Violetlight, Bluebird Soaring, theshadowcat, flamingmarsh, LadyJet2, RachaelMNiner, plenoptic, JessyJazz, Hearts of Eternity, VAwitch, Dragowolf, MadameSoybean, ArmoredSoul, ferretsareillegal, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, grlwdgrntrk, Karategal, Xerios, Lecidre, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.**

Thanks for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: Hearts of Eternity, Dragowolf, MariaRose13**

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**THANK YOU: **Thank you to **lady tecuma **for listening to my endless idea babbling and for keeping me on track.

To those of you asking about Elita...I honestly don't know what I am going to do with her in this story. She is a part of this and I have a lot written on her, but I haven't addressed it yet. I may have a sequel that focuses on her and Optimus if I can't make it flow with this one but, slag, I'm trying!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! This chapter was rather fun to write:)

_Italics_ are a flashback and **bold faced** print are personal transmissions.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 16

Ironhide Can Fix Anything

by Litahatchee

_The Sparkling lay on the chassis of The Being, his spark directly over The Being's. The Being whispered its love to him and he felt it through his spark. But, something..._

_Something was wrong. The Being's spark...It felt weaker. _

_The Sparkling was confused. Where was the song? Then, The Sparkling felt the song in his spark, but The Being was too weak to sing it. The Sparkling's presence seemed to be helping The Being. However, The Being was beyond help now._

_The Sparkling crawled up to The Being's face. The Being kissed his fingers as they leaned against The Being's mouth-plates. He gazed into The Being's optics, searching for the dazzling red reassurance that they represented to him. There was no reassurance. The optics were now dull and dim, the radiance gone from them. _

_The Being looked away from The Sparkling, past him, to someone behind._

_That's when The Sparkling felt the spark of his creator. The Creator's spark reached out to The Sparkling's and The Sparkling squealed in delight. The Sparkling didn't see him as The Creator lifted him up from behind. The Creator gently placed The Sparkling back onto the chassis of The Being. _

_The Sparkling hadn't realized that, somehow, he'd lost contact with The Being's spark. It was as if The Creator had filled the momentary void with his own spark's love. Now that The Sparkling was lying on The Being's chassis again, so close to The Being's spark, he could feel it again. The Sparkling wrapped his small arms around The Being's chassis, the song within lulling him into recharge._

888888888888888

Bumblebee jerked out of recharge, his spark immediately searching out the spark of The Being, just as he had done all those vorns ago. As had happened countless times before, he felt nothing...nothing but the painful void that had taken its place.

This time, however, he felt something...similar, something familiar. It didn't belong to The Being, but it belonged to a Cybertronian of a similar type.

Bumblebee unshuttered his optics, the joy in his spark unmistakable. He sat up and realized that the similarity was Chromia. He stared at her...

She and Ironhide were still sitting on his berth. Ironhide was leaning against the wall, Chromia leaning against him. She was protectively encased in his arms. They both appeared to be deep in recharge.

A sudden realization dawned on Bumblebee. He had known another femme! The Being in his memories...It was a femme! Bumblebee stared at Chromia with wide optics. He had known another femme, one that was very important to him. His sudden connection with Chromia was reminding him of her. Chromia's spark…It was so similar.

Bumblebee remembered…The Being was a femme…

What he remembered most about her, other than her soothing spark, was her red optics. They were so mesmerizing, so calming to him, so beautiful, so different.

That was before...before he had learned what they meant, what they were. That was before he had gained a healthy fear of the Cybertronian faction who possessed them. Before he knew there were factions. Before he knew they were at war. Before he found himself so mercilessly thrown into it, through no choice of his own nor of those around him.

He had found himself in Ironhide's care, who had wanted nothing more than to shield him from war's merciless grip. But they came after him, the ones with the red optics. He became deathly afraid of them and the memory of The Being, the one who had shown him so much compassion, had been buried. However, the void always remained.

Bumblebee's spark soaked itself in Chromia's, allowing her presence to fill the void that the other femme had left behind. Bumblebee leaned forward and placed his hand on her chassis again. She didn't respond, but Ironhide stirred.

It had been Ironhide who taught him to control his fear. It was Ironhide who taught him to be brave and courageous. Ironhide had taught him that he should never show the ones with the red optics weakness, especially to never show them when and where you are weak. They fed off of weakness and once they knew what your weakness was, they took it from you without mercy. Never show them that you're afraid. Never show them what makes you afraid.

Ironhide never showed any weakness of his own. He had always been very loving towards Bumblebee, but only in private.

Chromia's spark began pulsing erratically. Ironhide hugged her closer, and that's when Bumblebee felt it...

Ironhide's spark...

It was distant, as he had no direct connection to Ironhide's spark, but he felt it through his connection with Chromia. It was just as intense as Ironhide was. Ironhide's spark was a whirlwind of emotions that were almost too overpowering. They swirled around each other, ebbing and flaring, flowing through his entire frame and his CPU with unrelenting intensity. His spark was alive with his emotion, an entire universe of loving and compassion, anger and sadness.

Bumblebee stared at him in surprise. He never imagined Ironhide's spark would feel this way. Ironhide, the rough and tumble, temperamental mech, who rarely showed his affections, yet, in contrast, his spark was boiling with affection. Sure, Bumblebee knew Ironhide was capable of love, compassion, warm feelings, because he had shown Bumblebee these things while in his care. Bumblebee knew Ironhide better than anybody. However, Bumblebee had no idea that Ironhide was **made** of these things. His very essence was the epitome of deep, passionate, kind...love, all swirling around an angered sadness that was barely kept in check.

Another memory surfaced and Bumblebee thought of Ironhide and Ratchet.

888888888888888

_Bumblebee wasn't always sure where Ratchet and Ironhide stood with each other. Ratchet was always telling Ironhide what a Decepticon he was, when Ironhide clearly hated them. In fact, his hatred for them was almost maniacal. _

_And, Ironhide was always telling Ratchet what a terrible job he was doing on Ironhide's frame, when Ratchet was clearly trying to ease his aches and pains. Bumblebee knew that Ironhide had problems with his hip and his left leg, among numerous other things. _

_Ironhide would say to Bumblebee, "Primus, my hip is hurting worse today, and it's all the Hatchet's fault." _

_He always said something like that near Ratchet, so that he would be sure that Ratchet could hear him. _

_Ratchet would respond with something like, "That is not the only thing that is going to be hurting worse, if you don't get out of my face you fragging 'Con."_

_So, Bumblebee was under the impression that they must not like each other very much. _

_Bumblebee remembered the time when he fell and broke his arm. It was soon after he had gotten his second frame and he was still a bit clumsy on his feet. A wire hung out of his elbow. He went to Ironhide._

"_Hide, I fell," Bumblebee had said to him. _

_He held up his arm, showing Ironhide the stray wire that was hanging limply from his damaged elbow. __Ironhide took a look at the wire, grabbed it, and promptly pulled it free. Bumblebee felt a sharp pain go up his arm, before all feeling went away completely._

"_That better?" Ironhide asked._

_At first, Bumblebee shook his head no, but then, when all the pain went away, he smiled and said, "Yes." _

_Later, after several recharge cycles, it became apparent that Bumblebee couldn't use that arm…at all._

_Deeply concerned, Ironhide took him to Ratchet._

"_What happened now?" Ratchet had asked, exasperated. He had been seeing a lot of Bumblebee, lately._

"_He fell several cycles ago," Ironhide explained calmly. "And a wire was hanging out of his elbow."_

_Ratchet looked at the elbow, "I don't see it."_

_Ironhide shrugged, "That's because I pulled it out."_

_A flash of angered annoyance had crossed Ratchet's faceplates and before Bumblebee knew what was happening, Ratchet had grabbed the wrench that he had placed next to Bumblebee and promptly slung it at Ironhide. _

"_What the Pit?!" Ironhide yelled as he nearly tripped over his own feet, trying to dodge the projectile, which flew past him, clanging loudly against the wall beyond._

"_Ironhide?!" Ratchet yelled at him. "You can't go pulling wires out of him! You've destroyed the motor circuitry in his elbow. That's why he can't move it. He probably can't even __**feel**__ it!"_

_Ratchet replaced the wire and repaired the damaged elbow, mumbling angrily about the irresponsible Ironhide the entire time. Bumblebee didn't say a word._

"_Next time something like this happens, bring him to me," Ratchet warned when he was finished, handing the newly repaired bot over to Ironhide. _

_Bumblebee had grabbed on to Ironhide dependently; Ratchet was a bit scary. _

_As he got older, however, Bumblebee learned to go straight to Ratchet regarding anything involving his frame, which is exactly what he was doing the time he went to see Ratchet, and found that Ironhide was in the med bay too. Both he and Ratchet were sitting. Ratchet's right hand sat gently on Ironhide's left shoulder. Ironhide was looking at the floor and Ratchet was speaking softly to him. There was no exchange of insults whatsoever. _

_Ironhide had looked up when he heard someone come in, making optic contact with Bumblebee. What Bumblebee saw in those optics at that moment; they were full of the deepest sorrow that he had ever seen in any mech. For the millionth time in his life, he had wished that he could feel what Ironhide was feeling in his spark. Ironhide had gotten up and left. No one ever spoke of it, and Bumblebee never saw it again._

888888888888888

As Chromia's spark continued its frantic beat, Ironhide's spark coated hers in soothing sensations. It was faint, but Bumblebee could tell that something was going on there. Chromia's spark responded to Ironhide's touch, its pulse calming to its normal rhythm.

Bumblebee stared at them in wonderment. He was dumbfounded. It was love…a deep, all-encompassing love. At that moment, Bumblebee understood what a sparkmate was. A sparkmate was someone with whom you were in love, someone you devoted yourself to, someone you comforted in their time of need. It was very similar to a human wife. He had figured as much; he wasn't **that **naive, but he had no idea the depth with which it ran. It was so much more than what the humans had with their mates. It was as if…as if Ironhide and Chromia were an extension of the same being. They were merely two parts of One.

"Wow," Bumblebee whispered in awe.

Ironhide unshuttered his optics, glancing at Chromia before looking at Bumblebee.

"**You're still here,"** he transmitted flatly.

Bumblebee sat back, **"I don't want to be anywhere else."**

They stared at each other a moment. Then Bumblebee leaned forward again, placing his hand over Ironhide's spark, "I can feel your spark."

At this, a smile formed across Ironhide's faceplates and he pulled Bumblebee in for a hug, completely surprising the young mech. Bumblebee laughed, reveling in this rare display of Ironhide's affection.

Chromia's spark began pulsing erratically again. Ironhide tensed up, releasing Bumblebee abruptly, his fingers splaying on Chromia's chassis over her spark as his own spark, again, sent soothing, comforting pulses.

Bumblebee stared at her. "There's something wrong, isn't there?" he asked quietly.

"She's fine," Ironhide responded as his arms tightened around her. "Go back to recharge."

That was Ironhide's answer to everything. For anything and everything that he didn't want to answer, that he couldn't answer, or that he refused to answer, it was: go back to doing what you were doing before you asked me that.

However, Ironhide didn't intimidate Bumblebee. Bumblebee knew him too well.

"**Why are you so sad?" **Bumblebee asked next. Then he remembered Ironhide and Ratchet in the med bay, Ratchet's soothing voice, Ironhide's saddened optics…"**Have you always been this sad?" **

Ironhide didn't answer, another indication that he was done speaking now. He didn't even look at Bumblebee.

"**Does it have to do with…"** Bumblebee started, hesitating, and then tried again. **"Does it have to do with Megatron? Did he hurt her?"**

Ironhide's optics grew as big as asteroids, the questions obviously shocking him immensely. It took him a second to gain his composure, but he still didn't answer Bumblebee. Instead, he said, "Go to sleep, Bumblebee," as sternly as he could muster.

That was as far as Bumblebee was going to get. He knew not to push Ironhide. The next thing that Ironhide would do would be to kick him out, and that was the last thing that Bumblebee wanted, so he lay back down. He watched as Ironhide shuttered his optics, his and Chromia's sparks resonating harmoniously together.

There was definitely something wrong, but he knew Ironhide could fix it. Ironhide could fix anything. He would make things right. He could make things happen…and another memory surfaced…

888888888888888

_Bumblebee didn't want to use the word, "smarter," because he didn't think Ironhide was an idiot, exactly. Ironhide just didn't always think. He wasn't programmed to 'think.' Bumblebee discovered this as he was growing up. Bumblebee also discovered that his own programming made him brighter than Ironhide. Ironhide had always been there for him. He was a great protector and caretaker and he knew everything one would and wouldn't want to know about weaponry and warfare. Bumblebee learned, early on, that Ironhide was easily frustrated, compulsive, and reacted purely based off of his emotions. Despite all of this, Bumblebee adored him._

_Ironhide watched as Bumblebee slowly put shapes into a box in the wall. Bumblebee was learning to sort shapes. There was a metallic panel in the wall, with holes in it that were shaped like squares, circles, triangles, and stars. There were small metal blocks that were in the solid forms of these shapes. The idea was to match the correct shaped block with the correctly shaped hole on the panel. Once a shape was matched and pushed through, it fell into a holding basin within the wall. _

_Bumblebee handed one to Ironhide, wanting him to place it in. It was in the shape of a star. _

_Ironhide tried one shaped hole…However, the shape he had didn't fit. He tried another and another and it wasn't fitting in any of the holes. _

_He gave Bumblebee a sidelong glance. Bumblebee just sat there, watching him with wide optics, expectant. _

_Ironhide tried again…each and every one. The shape wasn't fitting in any of the Pit-spawned holes! _

_Bumblebee knew right away which hole it fit in. He could see that Ironhide didn't have it turned the right way when he tried putting it in the star-shaped hole, where it belonged._

"_Slag," Ironhide cursed._

_He paused, giving Bumblebee another sidelong glance. The young bot just sat there, watching Ironhide's hands. He was unfazed by Ironhide's sudden use of a curse word. He was used to it from the gruff mech. Ironhide tried again, pressing the shape into each hole, harder, as if shear force would make it go through, until soon he was __**banging**__ the shape against the holes, the shape refusing to fit into any of them..._

_Ironhide stopped. "Stand up," he said to Bumblebee._

_Confused, Bumblebee did as he said. Ironhide handed him the shape._

"_Step back a little bit," he commanded next. Bumblebee took a step back. Ironhide shooed at him with his right hand, "Step back a little more."_

_Bumblebee took a few more steps back. It was at this point that Ironhide's cannon rolled out. He took aim, and fired at the shape panel, blowing a gigantic hole into the wall. Some of the holding basin for the shapes was still intact. Ironhide plucked the star shape from Bumblebee's hands and chucked it in._

"_Now it'll fit," he said, smiling at Bumblebee. Bumblebee giggled._

_Bumblebee gathered the rest of the shapes in his arms and walked over to the gaping hole, dropping them all in the box at once._

"_Sometimes," Ironhide said next. "You just have to make it fit."_

_While that was a lesson in and of itself, it was at that moment that Bumblebee knew he was brighter than Ironhide. However, he also realized, at that moment, that Ironhide made things happen. He got things done, albeit in his own way. His methods may have been unconventional, but he always took care of it, whatever it was._

888888888888888

As Ironhide soothed Chromia's spark, Bumblebee thought of this. He didn't know what the problem was but, whatever it was, Ironhide could fix it. He could make it right. He could make things happen.

Bumblebee reached over and placed his hand over Chromia's, silently telling her that it was okay, that Ironhide was going to fix it.

Ironhide can fix anything.

8888


	17. Inner Darkness

(posted Feb. 23, 2008)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters (such as Sunshadow) AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas (such as carrying), or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Warm thanks to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 16: **plenoptic, Bluebird Soaring, flamingmarsh, Violetlight, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, ArmoredSoul, JessyJazz, VAwitch, blood shifter, Dragowolf, theshadowcat, Hearts of Eternity, Blume, MadameSoybean, ferretsareillegal, Me Again, grlwdgrntrk, Karategal, lady tecuma, Carmilla DeWinter **(you completely missed the point, but I'm sure you'll find other stories to suit your fancy)**, Xerios, Lecidre, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.**

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Each and every review and add means a lot to me. Thank you.

**THANK YOUs**: I called on the cavalry for these next two chapters. I really want to thank **Hearts of Eternity, lady tecuma, Violetlight, Madame Soybean, **and** ferretsareillegal** for all of your support, help, encouragement, advice, and suggestions. I truly appreciate your willingness to take so much of your time to lend a helping hand in one way or another. You people are just awesome. Thank you (huge hug)! I extend an extra warm thank you to **Hearts of Eternity**. She and I have been discussing Chromia's inner turmoil for months now. Those long emails and late-night discussions have been extremely helpful. Thank you so much, my friend.

**NOTE**: This entire chapter is Chromia in her recharge state, while she is on the berth there with Ironhide and Bumblebee. _Italics _are the flashback she has while in this recharge. She is also having a flashback to someone from her past, but she is remembering it in the present. So, I italicized the words of the femme from her past to try and show that it is something from her past that she is addressing in her present state.

Remember from ch. 10 that Chromia does not remember Sunshadow's name. Ironhide says it at the end of ch. 10, but Chromia had fallen into recharge, so she did not hear him.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 17

Inner Darkness

by Litahatchee

**Chromia in recharge state**:

It was everywhere, all around her. She was surrounded by darkness. It was closing in on her, threatening to crush her frame as it pulsed through her CPU like a virus, consuming her until she, herself, became a part of it. Within the oppressive darkness were the memories, horrible memories…

Her worst fears had come true…

She heard screaming. She couldn't tell if it was her own, or Ironhide's, or both. But, always, before her, was their frightened sparkling.

**His **red optics bore into her mind. She was so afraid, and…utterly helpless. She couldn't do anything to save her sparkling. Chromia felt weak.

She pushed these memories as far back and away from her as she could, until she was surrounded by nothing but the darkness.

"I don't remember his name!" she called out into the gloom.

Her voice was hollow, void of any projection of sound. The darkness became heavier. She tried to get away from it, but it was so thick that she could hardly move. She realized that she didn't have anywhere to go. Where would she go?

She heard a voice, _"…It's okay to remember, Chromia."_

Unlike her own voice, this voice echoed loudly through the overpowering darkness. Chromia recognized this voice. She frantically searched it out. Then, she saw...

Chromia watched the silhouette of a red-armored femme. The femme was surrounded by light. The femme was walking away from her. She appeared to be in a hallway, or maybe it was a medical bay, Chromia couldn't tell. The light followed her as she went, the darkness replacing her retreating steps.

"Elita?" Chromia's hollow voice said into the darkness.

The other femme did not answer her. Chromia tried moving towards her, but the red-armored femme kept walking away.

As she watched the femme go, Chromia realized that it wasn't Elita at all. The femme's armor was more of a deep crimson color than Elita's rose red. Chromia saw that the armor was highlighted with a shiny black that reflected the walls, making her appear as if she were disappearing. Something about this was vaguely familiar…

"Wait!" Chromia called through the darkness.

The femme finally stopped, and when she turned around Chromia realized that she was a lot closer than she appeared. However, Chromia could not see her face...

"I just want to remember his name," Chromia almost whispered.

"_But you have to face it…Don't delete what you need to let yourself remember. It's okay to remember, Chromia."_

The femme's words suddenly seemed to project light.

The weight of the darkness pushed Chromia towards the light. She hesitated, and then stepped into it…

At first, Chromia didn't recognize where she was. Then, a familiarity of the place became clear…

She was back on Cybertron. She was…in her and Ironhide's home.

---

_He snuck up behind her and enveloped her in his arms. She leaned her weight against him. She felt his mouth-plates brush against the CPU port on the back of her neck. She paused…_

"_Will you mate with me?" he rumbled softly into her audio, his voice vibrating in his chest as he pressed himself against her back. His right hand came up to press against her chassis over her spark, while his left ghosted suggestively over her interfacing port. She shivered, sighing audibly as his mouth-plates brushed against her CPU port again. _

_Only a bonded pair could spark-mate and not all bonded pairs chose to do so, as the result would, inevitably, be a sparkling. It was said that spark-mating was the only thing more satisfying than bonding. It was more than that, beyond it, even. Virtually, an ethereal state would be achieved, even more so than spark bonding already was. In their lifetime, no greater state of being could be imagined. They would be joining, but they would also be interfacing and synchronizing their CPU's at the same time. _

_Spark-mating involved all connections. All the information from each partner; mind, body, and soul; was put into the programming of a sparkling. Therefore, all connections had to be made between the CPUs, the frames, and the sparks of the bonded pair. This was a deliberate act done to create a sparkling, so it wasn't something that would be performed for enjoyment alone. Even though it was done to create a sparkling, however, it didn't always result in one, as the pair would often overload on one or two of the connections, before the third could be made. _

_Ironhide smiled against Chromia's face. He was going to enjoy trying, though he hoped that they would eventually get the desired result; a sparkling of their own, created from their own programs, their own sparks._

_Chromia turned in his arms. "You want to mate with me?" she asked excitedly. _

_It was the greatest, most wonderful, most beautiful, most precious thing that he could ask of her. They were complete._

"_Yes," he answered while gazing at the details of her optics. "Right now."_

_Chromia wanted a sparkling badly. She had always hoped that it was something that Ironhide desired as well. However, as the war raged on, she never discussed this desire with him, and it never surfaced when they were joined. There would be no way that she would deliberately bring a sparkling into such an environment. But now, with the ceasefire, things were looking better. It appeared that they were going to finally be living in peace…and with that, Ironhide's own desires for a family were becoming known to her._

"_I didn't know you wanted a sparkling," she said, laughing joyfully when he cupped the back of her neck with one hand while pressing his other against the port in her frame. A thrill that she would be spark-mating with him washed through her spark._

_He watched her a moment. She was everything to him. He didn't even know he wanted a __**sparkmate**__ until he first laid optics on her. She had awakened his spark and he had pursued her without abandon. She became his and he became hers and now he could never imagine his life without her. He couldn't even remember what his life was like before they bonded. And, now, that the war appeared to be coming to an end, she awakened another desire that he never thought he'd be a part of; a family. He could see his future in her... their future. _

"_I want as many sparklings as you can give me," he enveloped her in warmth and love and she laughed again, thinking how wonderful it was that Ironhide belonged to her._

_Chromia reached out and grasped the back of his neck, intending to start the CPU connection first. "Let's just start with one."_

_---_

Chromia pushed the memory away, the resulting darkness becoming overwhelming. She gasped painfully as she touched the scar where her interfacing port used to be. Spark-mating was something that she could never do again, so she didn't want to remember how wonderful it was.

"_Deletion is not the answer, Chromia… You are going to have to accept that this happened to you."_

It was the same voice. The femme was standing beside her now, but Chromia did not look up to see her face.

"I…can't," Chromia said weakly. She was becoming increasingly disgusted with herself for becoming so weak.

The femme's voice took on a sterner tone, "…_Then you have to accept that you are not going to accept it, you stubborn Autobot!"_

Chromia started to walk away from her this time, and the darkness overtook her again.

"_You can't run away forever,"_ the voice called out over the darkness. _"It will consume you, and you won't even know why!"_

"I just want to remember his name," Chromia said again.

Another beam of light presented itself and Chromia quickly stepped into it.

---

"_Funsadow!" a tiny voice squealed._

_Then, she heard Ironhide's soft laughter. Her spark leapt joyfully in her chassis. She walked towards their voices and found Ironhide lying on his side on their berth. His back was to her. She heard giggling on the other side of him._

"_Noooo," Ironhide said, playfully, rolling the laughing, black, ball that was their sparkling._

_Ironhide turned to look at her, a big smile playing across his faceplates. Their sparkling jumped up to climb over his mech creator's hulking mass, so that he could see her too. Both sets of optics twinkled delightfully at her presence._

_Ironhide pointed at Chromia. "What's her name?" he asked the little mech._

"_Mia," the sparkling responded and then he reached out to her, making grabbing motions with his tiny digits._

_Chromia went to them and sat on the berth, the sparkling jumping into her arms happily._

"_What's my name?" Ironhide continued. _

_He reached over and cupped Chromia's face with one of his large, warm, hands. She turned into his touch affectionately._

"_Dide," the sparkling answered, almost seriously._

_Chromia laughed, Ironhide's spark jumping at the sound. He sat up, turning to face them completely._

"_What's your name?" he asked next, rubbing the little bot's chest with his index finger._

_The sparkling threw his hands up in the air and squealed, "Funsadow!"_

_Ironhide dropped his hand and shook his head, "No."_

_Chromia laughed harder this time. The perplexed look on Ironhide's face amused her._

"_He doesn't know his name," Ironhide said to her, with some concern, once she'd gotten her good laugh. _

_Chromia laughed again. She found it funny that he didn't realize that the sparkling was playing with him. The fact that the sparkling knew that Ironhide was taking it so seriously was even more amusing. The little mech's antic behavior delighted and surprised her. She wondered where he got it from. Yet, his mech creator exhibited such behavior towards her, sometimes in their private moments together. _

"_He knows his name, Hide," she said. "He's doing it on purpose."_

_She bent down and rubbed her nose against the sparkling's small chassis, blowing warm air on him from her vents, using her mouth plates to grab at his hands as he tried to push her face away. She was making him giggle madly. Tiny cooling fans clicked on within his systems, trying to compensate for his tiny, overheating, frame. His pushing became weaker as his laughter began to exhaust him. Chromia stopped before he went into involuntary recharge. The sparkling watched her as his giggling calmed down._

"_What's his name?" Chromia asked him, pointing at Ironhide._

"_Dide," the sparkling giggled again. He liked this game! _

_Unable to help himself, Ironhide reached down and gave his sparkling another good laughing fit, working his large fingers around the little bot's sides. When he saw that the sparkling had had enough, he rested his hand over the tiny mech's spark._

"_What's my name?" Chromia continued._

"_Mia," both the sparkling and Ironhide answered at the same time. _

_Chromia met Ironhide's gaze warmly, a half grin forming on her face. __**There **__was Ironhide's antics..._

"_My Mia," Ironhide said softly to her._

"_My Mia," their sparkling copied him._

_Ironhide leaned towards her and rubbed his face against hers, purring softly in her audio before fully embracing both of them._

"_Interface!" the sparkling yelled excitedly._

_Ironhide pulled back, a mischievous grin on his face. "__**You**__ taught him that," he reminded her._

_Chromia glared at him and then returned her attention to their sparkling._

"_And what's __**your **__name, brightspark?" she asked lovingly._

_The sparkling reached up and touched her face, answering sweetly, and correctly, for her. _

"_Sunshadow."_

8888


	18. Lost and Alone

(posted March 10, 2008)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters (such as Sunshadow) AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas (such as carrying), or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 17: **blood shifter, theshadowcat, Violetlight, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Karategal, flamingmarsh, ArmoredSoul, Bluebird Soaring, Dragowolf, I play wid fir3, Hearts of Eternity, plenoptic, MadameSoybean, Phoenix13, Blume, grlwdgrntrk, ferretsareillegal, lady tecuma, Xerios, Lecidre, Shizuka Taiyou, **and **dresdenlace**!

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**THANK YOUs and RECOMMENDATIONS**: I called on the cavalry for this chapter. I really want to thank **Hearts of Eternity **for all the amazing emails you sent regarding the situation in this chapter and all the wonderful support, help, encouragement, advice, and suggestions you had, and the help with some sentence structure and wording. If anyone reads these author's notes, you have got to go read her story, **"What Time We Have Left." **It is amazing. That story is definitely one of my all time favorite stories...ever. Thanks to **lady tecuma** for reading this thing several times, keeping me in check. If there is anyone out there who hasn't read her **"Sparks and Plasma," **well, now's a good time to take it in (smiles). She also has a great story about Jetfire, **"System Of A Down." **And another great story featuring the pairings of Hide and Mia/Optimus and Elita, **"Intimacy."** Thanks to **Violet Light** for listening to my ramblings and giving me her own insight, and the use of 'brightspark' is her idea. Her **"Vapour Trails"** is awesome and I highly recommend it. Thanks to **Madame Soybean **for all the input and insight you have given me**. **And thanks to** ferretsareillegal** for all of your support, help, encouragement, advice, and suggestions. It just wasn't becoming clear, so I asked all of you for help in one form or another. I truly appreciate it.

I want to thank everyone who has reviewed for me thus far. I have just been blown away by all of your wonderful reviews. They are the best encouragement to continue ever! I cannot believe that I have so many! I hope this chapter will inspire enough of you to review to get the review count up to 300. That would just be awesome! If you're reading/finding this later and want to review, but think that it's too late to review. Never fear! There is no such thing as a late review. We authors like to see them every time, no matter how late they are; weeks, months, even years later *smile* Thank you!

And I want to thank **plenoptic** for the part on the shadows being snuffed out by the sun. She had that in **"New Beginnings"**and it spoke to me so much, especially in regards to Sunshadow, that I asked permission to use it here. Thank you...

This chapter was incredibly difficult to write. I have been working on this for almost two months. The psychology of it all was just giving me fits. I sure do hope you enjoy it. I think I've put more effort into this one chapter than any of the others thus far. I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 18

Lost and Alone

by Litahatchee

"_And what's __**your **__name, brightspark?" Chromia asked lovingly._

_The sparkling reached up and touched her face, answering sweetly, and correctly, for her. _

"_Sunshadow."_

---

The memory faded…and Sunshadow's smiling features were suddenly twisted in pain, his dark blue optics wide with shock. He didn't even cry out. He'd only stared at her, seeking her comfort.

Chromia pushed this image away so violently that the ensuing darkness almost crushed her. She had failed him. She had failed Sunshadow. Just as she began to think that the darkness couldn't get any worse, she felt like she was being pulled into it even further. Struggling against it, she fell to her knees as it threatened to consume her spark in its entirety.

There was only one…one being that she could take hold of. There was one rock, one anchor to which she could grasp tightly and not get sucked into the impending darkness for forever...

"Ironhide!" she cried out.

As had happened countless times before, there was no response. He did not hear her. They had been separated for so long. The distance was too great, too vast.

"Where are you?" she wept helplessly, the darkness overcoming her, encompassing her completely. If she did not find him, the darkness would destroy her.

Chromia reached out to him through their bond, **"Ironhide!"**

---

Ironhide heard Chromia screaming for him through their bond. His spark twisting in her agony, he swiftly reached down through their bond and practically yanked her out of recharge. She had often suffered from her memory reviews of Sunshadow's death while in recharge, especially right after it happened, but the fact that she was still reliving it meant that she was no closer to coming to terms with it than she was then. Ironhide became greatly concerned. He didn't know what to do, but he was certainly going to try, and he wasn't about to give up.

---

Chromia jerked out of recharge in a panic. Strong, but reassuring, arms prevented her from thrashing. Air was being pulled through her vents to cool her panicked, overheating, frame, resulting in an erratic gasping sound coming from them.

"Shhh…Chromia," she heard Ironhide's voice next to her audio. "I'm right here."

Chromia brought her hands up to touch the arms currently embracing her. She turned to see his face, reaching, tentatively, to touch it. She was afraid that, in doing so, he might disappear...

Her hand made contact with his face…and he remained.

"You're right here," she whispered.

As if to give her a better answer of his solidity, he cupped her face with one hand and pulled her frame as close to his spark as he could. She felt it against her, beating in time with hers.

"I'm right here," he repeated.

As the consoling pulse of his spark enveloped her shaking being, she allowed herself to relax against the soothing rhythm, feeling the need to be whole…to be whole with _him_.

Ever since she had arrived on Earth, when she was having memory reviews in her recharge state, it hadn't even registered to her that she had already found him. Until they got used to being together again, it was probably going to happen often. Ironhide had been experiencing the same thing earlier, but his recharge states, at least, had been much more restful.

There was another presence in her spark. It was very much like Sunshadow, but it wasn't. She allowed that presence into the void that the loss of Sunshadow had created. She became content to allow her entire being to immerse itself into the comfort the presence of this spark provided. For one blissful moment, she allowed herself to believe that none of it happened, that the entire horrible ordeal had just been a glitch in her processor, that Sunshadow was there with them, that he'd always been there.

It didn't last long, reality swiftly coming full circle again.

---

_Sunshadow. _All their pain; all their losses from vorns of war; it was so easily snuffed out, like a shadow by the sun. This was what he meant to them. This was what she'd forgotten. This was what she couldn't accept. Their shining light in the face of war was soon taken by the war, made all the more tragic as it was done in the face of peace.

Chromia remembered. She remembered his name. She grasped it tightly in her CPU, whispering it over and over again in her mind lest she lose it again. She felt like Primus was playing a cruel game with her. She wanted to know why this happened to them. Why was their most precious creation taken away?

She looked down to see the youngling whose spark was filling some of the terrible grief that Sunshadow left in her own spark. Her optics very much wanted to see a tiny black mech sparkling lying next to her but, instead, she was looking at a yellow one, a youngling that was almost full grown.

Chromia watched Bumblebee, regret permeating her sorrow-filled spark. She had missed his entire life, and her own sparkling would never reach this stage. Chromia felt a terrible sadness over the realization that she'd never be given the chance to experience Sunshadow growing up. Now, looking at Bumblebee, she was full of regret that she had missed watching him grow up as well. She had missed the younglinghood of _both _of them. She wanted to hold on to this youngling until she could no longer feel his spark, but that was going to happen too soon. She would never be able to accept that she missed the most precious moments of the lives of the two younglings that were dear to Ironhide's spark.

Guilt began to pervade her being, further saturating her sense of regret…Guilt that they didn't make sure…Regret that she had agreed to mate in the first place. What were they thinking? They should have made sure the peace would last. They should have known better. Deep down, they knew…They _knew_ that it wouldn't.

Chromia also felt guilt that she had let her guard down around this new youngling, guilt that she allowed his spark to fill a part of Sunshadow's void. While Bumblebee was not replacing Sunshadow in her spark, he was filling a void there. She suddenly felt guilty for indulging in the comfort that a new youngling would provide for her tortured spark. The pain was never going to go away.

Her devastating sense of guilt and regret was replaced by an all-encompassing sense of betrayal, that she had inadvertently erased some of her memory of Sunshadow, that she had betrayed Sunshadow by doing so.

"_Deletion is not the answer…"_

Chromia had failed to adhere to that advice. She later accepted that she could not be rid of the memory chip. However, she still tried to erase the horrors. She tried, desperately, to hold on to all the good that was Sunshadow, grabbing on with a will of iron, never letting go, but still, inevitably, she managed to delete his name. There were times, especially without Ironhide, that she couldn't cope and she would try to delete it. She'd been trying to erase everything about Megatron. She hadn't wanted to delete anything about Sunshadow. Yet, the horrors that Megatron inflicted upon her were what she remembered the most. It seemed that in her attempts of deletion, she couldn't get rid of anything about Megatron, but the memory of Sunshadow suffered greatly.

That nagging sense of guilt returned again, but every time she remembered, all she could think about was **him**, her sparkling in **his **cruel grasp. Chromia shoved it out of her mind again, but resisted the overwhelming urge to delete anything.

Chromia searched through Ironhide's memories from his CPU download, hoping to find everything good about Sunshadow that she had deleted. However, when she accessed his familial directory, she found nothing but distance and confusion regarding his memories of Sunshadow. They were all jumbled together and tangled in a dense hazy fog in the back of his mind. She couldn't grasp anything. It was all so muddled and obscure. Even his memories of her were mixed up. The only thing clear in the entire directory was Bumblebee. He had flooded the directory with Bumblebee. She came to the horrible conclusion that Ironhide had replaced Sunshadow in his spark....

Chromia suddenly felt that the ultimate betrayal of Sunshadow's memory would be to draw close to Bumblebee. She felt horrible for allowing herself to briefly accept Bumblebee to replace the void in her spark, giving her the relief and comfort that Ironhide had been privy to all this time. She was repulsed by the thought that Sunshadow could be replaced as completely as he was in Ironhide's memories. She hated herself for becoming so weak that she would allow such relief for herself. She would not betray Sunshadow's memory again. Sunshadow could not be replaced. She became fearful that she was allowing him to be replaced by accepting the comfort that the mere presence of this youngling alone could provide for her.

Chromia withdrew from Bumblebee abruptly.

---

Ironhide felt Chromia's overwhelming guilt and he could feel the contact with Bumblebee's spark fading as she withdrew hers from his. She began shaking in sorrow. Ironhide cautiously wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up, moving over to their own berth.

He understood and he didn't. She was so happy the moment before. She hadn't been that happy in such a long time. He knew it had to do with Sunshadow, but he didn't understand why she was refusing to allow Bumblebee in.

"It's okay," he whispered soothingly as he settled down onto the berth, holding her in his lap, hugging her back to his chassis like he had been doing before. He rested his mouthplates on her audio, so that he could be heard only by her.

She suddenly felt a devastating sense that she'd been betrayed by Ironhide. It was more than her fear of replacing Sunshadow with Bumblebee. He kept Bumblebee from her, even when it became apparent that he could tell her. If Megatron had hurt the little bot, then he already knew about the last youngling. She became angry with him because, while she had missed Bumblebee's early years, Ironhide had not.

She shifted in his arms, slowly pulling away. Chromia's fears that Ironhide had replaced Sunshadow with Bumblebee re-surfaced with an even greater fear, that he had replaced both her and their sparkling with Bumblebee. To add to her impending despair, she realized that he'd done something much worse. He had gotten over Sunshadow's death. He had accepted that Sunshadow was gone. He was comfortable with it. He used Bumblebee to get over Sunshadow. Chromia felt like she had been left to suffer the pain of their loss alone. He had moved on. She had not. It was becoming apparent to her that Ironhide was no longer sharing in this pain. She felt lost and alone. Whatever closure Ironhide had gotten, she was never going to receive it.

"No," she whispered. "He cannot be replaced, but, you…," she shuddered painfully. "You've replaced him in your spark. You've moved on!"

Ironhide squeezed his optics shut, "I haven't, Chromia… I can't. It's not possible."

The void could not be filled. It was never going to go away. It could be comforted, but nothing more. Ironhide had accepted that comfort as fully as he was able. If Chromia let herself, she could receive an even greater comfort than he, because she could actually feel Bumblebee in her spark. Maybe that's what she was afraid of. She was afraid of moving on...

Ironhide felt her deep guilt, her regret that she had been so willing to have the memory chip removed. Her guilt was leading to the sense of betrayal that she was feeling, that if she allowed herself to move on, then that would lead to the ultimate betrayal of Sunshadow. Would she be bound to Sunshadow's memory that strongly?

Chromia tried to break free of Ironhide's embrace, but he held her steadfastly. She growled in frustration, but gave in momentarily as he filled her with his love for her, her spark aching for his touch. She was too weak to resist. It was this sense of weakness that made her double her efforts.

She was angry with him, she was happy with him, she hated him, she loved him, her fragging spark needed him... He was everything; he was nothing. What was Primus thinking when he created this type of bond? She wanted to leave him and never return and she wanted to join with him and get lost in him forever. Her emotions running wild, and her efforts to move away from him proving to be futile, Chromia settled with snarling at him. He pulled back, confused.

"Chromia, please-"

She didn't want to talk about it.

Ironhide didn't know what to do. She was fighting him and he didn't understand why. He wanted to help her. He wanted to make things right with his entire spark. He poured as much comfort and resignation that he had over the loss of Sunshadow into their bond as he could. She recoiled and tried to pull away from him again. She didn't want to accept it. She needed to remember. If she accepted it, it might all go away again, even the bad stuff, as much as she hated to admit that to herself.

Ironhide held onto her tightly. She hadn't reached closure with Sunshadow's death, but it had been so long ago. She didn't have Bumblebee to help her come to terms with it like he had. She hadn't had the amount of mourning time that she needed. Especially now, now that she could remember everything about him.

"It's okay to move on, Chromia," he said to her, remembering how comforting those words were from Ratchet all those vorns ago.

"Are you saying that I should just forget him!" she snapped.

Chromia felt as if Ironhide had let Sunshadow go, that he had forgotten about him. That was why his memories on him were so distant.

"No!" Ironhide practically yelled in shock. "Primus, Chromia!"

"I…can't. He can't be replaced, Ironhide. He just…can't." Chromia suddenly felt trapped. Her pump began beating faster in anxiety and her spark fluctuated in a panic.

"Hide…let go," she said desperately.

He continued to hold onto her and she felt a sudden sense of helplessness creeping into her CPU that was all too familiar. He increased the intensity of his comfort, but it only served to increase her intensity to deny it. Then he did something that sent a pulse of shock and despair through her entire being. He reached up into her chassis, and gently laid his hand over the piercing scar on her protoform. It didn't have the affect he'd hoped for. Her panic spiked…

"Let go of me, Ironhide!" she screamed.

He let go of her immediately and she rushed away from him off of the berth. She turned to face him, her wild optics meeting his shocked and confused ones. His shock reached her through their bond, her panic reaching him.

"Chromia, I'm sorry!" he pleaded with her, afraid he'd hurt her. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel like he was forcing her. "I want to help you," he said a bit more calmly. "Please let me help you," and then, "Why won't you let me help you?" Ironhide sounded desperate.

"You can't," she said sadly as she began to calm down. "You've moved on without me. You've replaced us."

Bumblebee had come out of recharge when he heard yelling and a scream. He could no longer feel Chromia and his spark panicked, the loss of the other femme becoming fresh on his mind. He saw that Chromia was still there, but something was wrong. He became afraid that she was going to leave. He felt like it had something to do with him.

"Did I do something wrong?" Bumblebee asked.

Bumblebee despaired. Oh no, Chromia knew, didn't she? She knew that he somehow belonged to Megatron! He did belong to Megatron, didn't he? The femme with those mesmerizing crimson optics in his memories…She must be his femme creator. The AllSpark told him wrong, he was sure if it. Optimus wouldn't have a Decepticon as a sparkmate...She must have been Megatron's sparkmate! Bumblebee was a Decepticon, he just knew it!

Both Ironhide and Chromia turned to look at him.

"No, you haven't done anything wrong," Ironhide said as calmly as he could. "Go back into recharge."

Chromia shook her head, her guilt deepening as she realized the affect she'd had on this youngling and how he was beginning to depend on her. He needed help and she was the only one who could give it to him. But, now, as she looked at him, she was reminded of everything they had lost, and everything, it seemed, that Ironhide forgot. He suddenly represented the Sunshadow that never grew up, the Sunshadow that would never reach adulthood…and, yet, he was the Bumblebee whose younglinghood she had missed. She had missed everything that mattered about both of them.

It all became too overwhelming for her. She didn't want to face it then and she didn't want to face it now. Chromia felt weak. She was too weak to face it. Suddenly, she felt ashamed of her weakness. She didn't deserve to be happy. Bumblebee was for Ironhide, not her. She didn't deserve to have the comfort and the relief. She had brought a sparkling into a world of war and lost him to it. She didn't even deserve to have a sparkmate. She couldn't look at either Ironhide or Bumblebee…She couldn't face it.

"I'm sorry," she said to Bumblebee. "I'm…so sorry." She met Ironhide's concerned optics and then quickly left the room.

"Is she leaving?!" Bumblebee exclaimed desperately as he jumped out of his berth.

"No, she's not going anywhere," Ironhide growled.

"What's wrong?" Bumblebee couldn't keep the panic from his voice, "You've got to fix it!"

"I'm trying!" Ironhide yelled in frustration, slamming his fist into the wall beside the door.

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**A/N**: Cheers to you, **Blume**, as the "longest night of their lives" is finally over (your reviews always make me laugh)! HAHAHAHA!

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	19. Frustration and Confusion

(posted March 30, 2008)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters (such as Sunshadow) AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas (such as carrying), or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I own Sunshadow and the idea of carrying, along with a few of the bond ideas.

OMG, thank you so much to everyone that has reviewed! I wondered if I would reach 300 with Ch.18 and I ended up with 305! You guys are just blowing me away! You folks make this happen. You really do. Thank you for the inspiration. THANK YOU to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 18: **blood shifter, Dragowolf, Phoenix13, flamingmarsh, theshadowcat, Misao-CG, ArmoredSoul, Karategal, Bluebird Soaring, Miss Hiss, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, plenoptic, Hearts of Eternity, MadameSoybean, Blume, ferretsareillegal, lady tecuma, Xerios, Lecidre, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.**

Thanks for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: Violetlight, Nyghtshade**

**[Story Alert]: Miss Hiss**

**[Favorite Author]: Violetlight**

**[Author Alert]: jhosmer1, Nomia**

**THANK YOUs**: Enormous thanks goes out to **Hearts of Eternity** for this entire chapter. I wrote it based off of her suggestion for some Hide/BB interaction. Then, I got inspired the more I typed it out and it went on and on. Thank you also goes to **Hearts of Eternity, lady tecuma, **and **Violetlight **for beta reading this chapter. I asked; all three of you raised your hands! LOL! Thank you so much for taking the time. The help and support we've all found in each other has been wonderful!

Okay, I'm going with this. Another chapter that I've worked really hard on. I've edited and edited it and then edited some more once the "editor from hell" had gotten a hold of it (Violet!), who went over each paragraph on Ironhide's thoughts about Chromia with me. So, between her and Hearts's wonderful help and suggestions, I think I've finally got it (smiles).

Regular print is the present. _Italics_ are flashbacks.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 19

Frustration and Confusion

by Litahatchee

Ironhide stared at the door for several long moments. He leaned against it on his right hand, bringing his left one up to rub his temple components as he bowed his head.

What had just happened?

How, on this Pit-forsaken planet, could Chromia think that he had moved on without her? Why, in this entire universe, would she think that he would be asking her to forget Sunshadow? He had never wanted her to forget him.

The dull ache in Ironhide's spark spiked painfully. There was no possible way _he_ could forget it, even if he wanted to. The constant pain in his spark was his continuous reminder.

He reached out to her. Upon feeling his touch, she angrily shut him out completely. She didn't even bother to shock him this time. However, shutting him out allowed the pain to return full force. He drew air into his intakes and let it out slowly. By now, he was used to it. Having had to leave her to go after the AllSpark had renewed its intensity. Having her near again had helped ease this pain, as being near her always had. It was never one hundred percent, but it was a relief, nonetheless.

He thought of Ratchet and smiled in spite of it all. That mech had done anything and everything to keep their sparks near each other during their initial recovery. Ratchet had always said that being able to have another's presence in one's spark was the greatest healer. In the case of having two broken sparks who were sparkmates, he would have them join often. Ratchet had certainly turned Ironhide into a believer. It had always helped to be next to Chromia's spark; being joined with it was even better.

Ironhide wasn't sure, but between his spark bond with Chromia, and Bumblebee's youngling bond, her spark might be able to be rid of all the pain. If she would open up to Bumblebee, she might be able to get full relief. Primus knew, she needed it. Ironhide frowned; how could he get her to see that this wouldn't be betraying Sunshadow's memory at all, that it wouldn't be replacing him?

Ironhide shook his head. He hadn't replaced Sunshadow with anybody, and he certainly wasn't asking her to do anything of the sort. Why, in the entire multi-verse, would she think that? What had he done wrong?

Ironhide didn't know how to handle her guilt. Did she regret spark-mating with him to begin with? His spark jumped painfully at that. Spark-mating with her was the greatest moment they'd ever shared together. He wouldn't trade it for anything, nor would he trade the time he had with Sunshadow for anything.

He had touched her scar. That was a mistake; he knew what it meant to her. She hated it when he did that. He couldn't help it, though. For all the horrors it represented, it still became something entirely different to him. Had he ever told her that? He searched through his memories to see if he had, and halted when he realized something else…

His memories…His CPU upload…Had she searched for memories of Sunshadow, trying to get back what she had lost? He knew what she would find if she had done that, or, rather, what she wouldn't find... His spark sank. Sparkmates generally knew everything about each other, however, thoughts, feelings, even memories, could be so completely buried and locked away within one sparkmate, that they couldn't be picked up by the other.

"Oh, Primus, Mia…It's not what you think…" Ironhide said to himself. He had to fix this, _now_.

Of course, in the case of Bumblebee, he made sure it was so completely locked away, especially when he was around her, that it couldn't surface. This with Sunshadow, however, was inadvertent.

He reached out to her again, intensifying his call, trying to break through the barriers she had put up, topping it off with their sparks' need for each other. It worked long enough for her to feel the overpowering need to be joined with him. Despite his concerns for her, he smiled in satisfaction. He was certain that, after that, she'd be along shortly...

---

Bumblebee watched Ironhide from across the room. It looked like he was going to chase after her, but then he just plopped himself on his berth, looking all smug and proud of himself about something.

"What are you doing?" Bumblebee asked. "Aren't you going after her?"

Bumblebee was scared, that much Ironhide could tell, but Ironhide didn't know why.

"No," he said, simply, without any further explanation.

"No?! You have to fix this!" Bumblebee saw that Ironhide was making no movements towards the door.

Ironhide began to get the sinking feeling that this might be something that he couldn't make happen. He glanced at the door. Was she coming, or not? He growled in frustration.

"You are going to fix this, aren't you?" Bumblebee asked next and noticed that Ironhide looked concerned. "You _can _fix this…right?"

"Bumblebee…" Ironhide started, but Bumblebee could tell, immediately, that Ironhide wasn't going to reassure him that he could set it right.

"She's going to disappear, isn't she?" Bumblebee's spark began pulsing in his casing in anxiety, his pump beating so fast that the energon rushing through his systems made him feel light-headed.

Ironhide knew nothing of the first femme bond that Bumblebee had had, nor Bumblebee's pain in losing it, nor Bumblebee's fear in losing this one. He stared at Bumblebee in confusion. He could see that Bumblebee was making himself overheat with worry. Had this small amount of time with Chromia really affected him this much?

Ironhide got out of his berth and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "She's not going to disappear. You don't have to worry about that."

"Why didn't you tell me you had a sparkmate?"

Ironhide sighed, loudly. There it was…That was the question he had always known he'd have to answer for his adopted youngling, unless he died of sparkshock from the loss of his spark's other half first. But, his sparkmate survived. She was there now; he was going to live. Now he was going to have to face both of them.

"I was protecting you."

"I got that part," Bumblebee retorted; memories of Ironhide protecting him with his life were plastered everywhere in Bumblebee's CPU.

When Ironhide made no move to explain anything further, Bumblebee started to feel like Ironhide was hiding something else from him. That, and the fact that Ironhide didn't seem the least bit concerned about what he had done, made him angry.

"Didn't you think that your sparkmate would have been important to me? I mean, I have a mother," Bumblebee said, using the human term for a femme creator.

"She's not your mother," Ironhide replied, a bit too callously.

"Not my mother?! You're like my father, aren't you? You raised me from a sparkling. Pit, you even carried me! For so long that I remember it!" Bumblebee's anger rose. How could Ironhide say that? Why would he say that? "You really _are _a cold sparked fragger, aren't you?"

Ironhide was taken aback by the insult, especially coming from Bumblebee. He stared incredulously at the young mech. "There are things you don't understand. It's complicated…" Ironhide sounded tired, weary.

"I don't understand because you don't tell me!" Bumblebee was starting to feel betrayed. Why was Ironhide not opening up to him? He always felt that they were close. Obviously, to him, they weren't as close as he thought.

"Just give me a chance!" Bumblebee continued, as Ironhide remained stubbornly quiet. "You have a sparkmate! Isn't that the bond where you give up your own spark to be a part of another's? That's our ultimate sacrifice for love, isn't it?"

Ironhide remained quiet a few moments more and then, "Yes…Did Ratchet tell you that?"

Ratchet _had _told him. He hadn't told him a whole lot, but the part that was very clear to Bumblebee was that one would die from the loss of the other. What Bumblebee didn't understand was why _Ironhide_ didn't teach him these things, "Why don't _you_ tell me?"

Ironhide didn't answer.

"When Optimus told me he had a sparkmate..." Bumblebee started to explain.

"Stop," Ironhide interrupted him. "Optimus told you he had a sparkmate? When?"

Optimus hadn't told him that he told Bumblebee about Elita. They had sworn never to allow their sparkmates to know of the youngling and vice versa. Ironhide growled in irritation at Optimus's decision. Optimus should have told him that. Ironhide tensed up. Did Optimus introduce Bumblebee to Elita? If he had told Bumblebee this before the AllSpark mission and Elita fragging knew, then he and Optimus were about to have words...

"He did," Bumblebee answered.

"When?" Ironhide demanded.

Bumblebee was a little shocked by Ironhide's intensity. It didn't surprise him, but this was _his _time to ask questions, _not _Ironhide's.

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_Bumblebee could sometimes feel Optimus's pain in his spark. In his concern, he asked about it one time. _

"_Well, there's no harm in telling you now, now is there?" Optimus had said to him. _

_Bumblebee watched him expectantly. _

"_I have a sparkmate, Bumblebee." Knowing that Bumblebee didn't exactly know what that was, Optimus gave him a small explanation, "It is someone that is very important to my spark. When I am away from her…it hurts." _

_It was one of the few occasions that Optimus allowed Bumblebee into his spark. Bumblebee had relished in it. He took it for all it was worth. He was happiest when he could feel Optimus's spark within his own. It just came so…naturally. _

"_**You know a femme?" **__Bumblebee had transmitted innocently through their bond, the only way he could communicate at the time. _

_Optimus chuckled, nodding his head. As much of a warrior as Bumblebee had become, it was times like these that reminded Optimus of his innocence. Even without his voice capacitor working, Bumblebee's transmissions sounded innocent. _

"_**What is her name?" **__Bumblebee asked next. _

"_Her name is Elita." Optimus liked her being referred to in the present tense. He hoped to Primus that she was still alive and that they would be together again some day. _

_It was the most beautiful name Bumblebee had ever heard. He hoped he would get to meet her. He was sad that Optimus was in pain without her. _

_Feeling Bumblebee's worry through their bond, Optimus had said, "Having you here helps." _

_But, he didn't give any further explanation than that. _

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Bumblebee had always thought that he helped ease Optimus's pain simply because he was a youngling. As the last youngling, he knew that just his presence, alone, brought hope to those around him. He could see it in their reactions to him, ever since he was a sparkling. They thought he was special, and he wasted no time in taking advantage of their attentions as a sparkling.

Perhaps that was part of it. However, now, he knew that he eased Optimus's pain because of his presence within Optimus's own spark. Just being able to _feel _him in his spark gave Optimus the comfort he needed to cope with his separation from Elita.

Perhaps that was what Chromia had been doing for Bumblebee. Just the fact that he could feel her in his spark soothed the pain of the losses that he had there.

"When did Optimus tell you about Elita, Bumblebee?" Ironhide's irate voice cut through Bumblebee's thoughts. It took every bit of what little self control Ironhide possessed not to go blast through his door and confront Optimus about this right now.

Bumblebee decided it was best to answer before he asked anything else, "Sometime during the AllSpark mission...Before I left the Ark to scout Earth."

Ironhide visibly relaxed, confident that Optimus hadn't told Elita of Bumblebee. He was still annoyed, though. Optimus should have informed him that Bumblebee knew of Elita. It might not have made things any easier on Bumblebee to have known about Chromia before she arrived, but there had been times that Ironhide had wanted to tell him about her.

Bumblebee felt that nagging sense that he had been betrayed by Ironhide. He felt that he had been cheated. He had a mother all along, but his father didn't even tell him. Bumblebee's anger returned.

"Didn't you think that I needed to know that you had someone like that too? I should have known about her. I would have liked to have known her…" Bumblebee grew quiet, his spark aching over the loss of the femme that he barely remembered, that he desperately wished he could know more of, but that had left him with a void in his spark his entire life. How much less sparkache would he have had to endure if he had Chromia in his life, when he came into Ironhide's care…?

It had to be something serious, Bumblebee reasoned. He knew that Ironhide had a soft spark for him. At least, he thought he did. There was no way that Ironhide would keep something like that from him without a slagging good reason…right?

Bumblebee remembered Ironhide's sad optics in the medical bay with Ratchet…and the gaping sadness that he felt in Ironhide's spark when he was close to Chromia's, even the sorrow in _her_ spark.

Bumblebee thought back on Optimus's words, _"…there's no harm in telling you now…"_

Bumblebee realized that Optimus had been purposefully keeping Bumblebee from his sparkmate as well. Why would both Ironhide and Optimus not want him to know that they both had sparkmates? How could it be harmful to him? How could it be harmful to their sparkmates? But, why did Chromia withdraw from him?

"What the Pit happened?" Bumblebee almost whispered.

Bumblebee always knew what Megatron had done to the femmes and younglings. It was a sad knowledge that all Cybertronians possessed. However, he didn't know any of the details and he, especially, didn't know what it meant to each of the mechs that he knew.

"We were protecting all of you," Ironhide finally explained. "We had to keep you apart. It had to be done."

"But, why?" Bumblebee understood that they were all protecting him. He had understood that from very early on. What he didn't understand was why Optimus and Ironhide felt that he couldn't know their sparkmates, and vice versa.

"Megatron did bad things," Ironhide said softly.

"But Megatron did bad things to everyone, didn't he?…How is this so different?" Bumblebee said, before asking, "Did he hurt _you_?"

Ironhide nodded his head, slowly. He wasn't ready to tell Bumblebee of his lost sparkling, nor the circumstances leading up to that. Instead, he said, "Yes, he hurt us very badly. I wanted to protect Chromia from further pain. The best way to do that was to keep you and her separated."

"You wanted to protect her from further pain? Further pain from what?" Bumblebee pressed.

Ironhide bowed his head, a soft clucking noise emitting from his vocals that Bumblebee hadn't heard since he was a sparkling.

"He killed all the younglings, Bumblebee," he replied sadly, the pain in his spark spiking again. "You are the last one. We had to keep you safe. We didn't want Megatron to find out you existed. He would target you, just as he did the other younglings."

"But, Megatron _did_ find out about me, so why keep me from her, then? Couldn't she have kept me safe, just as well as you have?"

"Yes, but, there's more to it than that," Ironhide answered, steering the conversation away from Chromia's specific sorrow. "He killed all the femmes too."

Bumblebee already knew this. "I know," he said, almost in exasperation. "I just don't see why that would be a reason to keep us apart."

"It just had to be done, Bumblebee," Ironhide said again, expelling air in exasperation. Bumblebee was too smart for his own good.

Bumblebee wanted to get back to why Ironhide wanted to protect Chromia from further pain. Bumblebee felt her pain and he certainly felt that he somehow had a hand in her running away. He knew Ironhide too well. He couldn't ask him directly and get a straight answer...

"Did Optimus not want me to know about his sparkmate for the same reason as you?"

"Mostly, yes…" Ironhide saw no harm in answering that question. Bumblebee needed to ask Optimus about his own reasoning, but it followed the same reasoning as Ironhide's, minus the situation with Sunshadow. Ironhide hesitated, before giving Bumblebee a partial answer, giving Bumblebee an answer that was true for all of them, "You...know what tapping is..."

Bumblebee nodded. He didn't think that there was anyone that didn't know.

Ironhide continued, "We couldn't take the risk that any one of you would be captured. If you knew of each other, then the Decepticons could tap you in captivity and find out everything they needed to know." Ironhide paused before saying, "You were captured once, Bumblebee…" eluding to Bumblebee's capture, torture, and subsequent release by Megatron on Tyger Pax.

"But, he didn't tap me," Bumblebee interrupted.

"No, he did something much worse. He maimed you. He didn't need to tap you, because he knew Optimus can feel you in his spark. Hurting you dealt Optimus a much bigger blow, trust me," Ironhide said.

They always knew that when it came to Optimus's relations, the whole idea was to harm Optimus as much as possible. Megatron had developed a serious vendetta against Optimus. The fact that Megatron didn't tap Bumblebee, however, proved that he already knew that both Optimus and Ironhide had kept Bumblebee a secret from their sparkmates.

Megatron never did anything that didn't need to be done. All of his actions served a purpose. He didn't need to tap Bumblebee. If Bumblebee didn't know the femmes existed, then he wouldn't know their whereabouts, now would he? There was no information that Megatron thought he needed to get from Bumblebee.

It was a relief that Megatron worked the way he did. If he had tapped Bumblebee on a whim, he would have known the location of the AllSpark, since Bumblebee knew where it was at the time. Megatron's open demands for its location were all a guise for his true intentions anyway, to hurt Optimus as much as possible. Megatron knew what this youngling was to Optimus, so he was successful in his intentions. He had hurt Bumblebee greatly, causing Optimus vorns of pain and regret.

However, in the end, Optimus and Ironhide were successful too. Their sparkmates remained safe and, ultimately, all of Cybertron, because if Megatron had known that Bumblebee knew of their sparkmates, he would have tapped him for that information on the spot. In doing so, he would have inadvertently learned of the location of the AllSpark. Megatron would have won the war right then and there.

Bumblebee stared at Ironhide, his optics wide, oblivious to Ironhide's continuing thoughts on the matter. That was the first time that Ironhide had ever admitted that he knew Megatron, Optimus, and Bumblebee all shared a spark bond. Bumblebee didn't know what to say. He wondered if Ironhide knew anything more. Perhaps Ironhide could explain it to him. He started to ask…

"But, he didn't tap me," he said, instead, strangely taking up for Megatron.

Bumblebee always felt that it pained Megatron to hurt him the way he did. He even felt his pain in his spark. However, Optimus's pain was even greater. Sadly, Bumblebee realized that that was the point.

"If he did, and you knew about Chromia, then he would have been led right to her!" Ironhide yelled in frustration. "What if it was Chromia? He would tap her in an instant!" Pain was evident in Ironhide's voice. "Then, he would know exactly where to find _you_. It _had_ to be done. You could not know about her and she could not know about you. I am here to protect you and my sparkmate…I am going to do that at all costs; do you understand?"

Bumblebee started to speak again, but thought better of it, nodding his head slowly, instead. What Ironhide was saying was the truth. The same would go for Optimus's sparkmate. However, Bumblebee still felt something was missing. Ironhide would never lie to him, but he was notorious for leaving things out. Why was Bumblebee's presence something that could hurt Chromia?

There was something else...something that had to do with Ironhide and Chromia, specifically. He kept playing that image of her telling him that she was sorry, over and over again. What was she sorry about? She withdrew from him too, not just Ironhide. If she were only mad at Ironhide, wouldn't she still be open to Bumblebee? He had an adverse affect on her, for some reason. Now she was shutting him out too! What had he done wrong?

"But," Bumblebee stammered. "You…she…"

Bumblebee's mind was racing. Why would his presence be hurting her?

Did it...Did it have to do with his relation to Megatron? Optimus was Megatron's brother. Everybody knew that. Knowing that Bumblebee was related to Megatron shouldn't bother Optimus's sparkmate in the least. However, what about Chromia? There was something missing in Ironhide's accounting. The situations between the sparkmates of the two were different.

He had told Ironhide that he could feel Megatron in his spark. He didn't know what it meant at the time, but Ironhide knew what it meant. Ironhide didn't know how they were related, but he knew it meant that they were connected in some way. Bumblebee didn't know how far Ironhide's concerns went with the matter. Ironhide never spoke of it.

Come to think of it, Ironhide never spoke of much of anything. It was rare that he spoke as much as he had now. Bumblebee knew very little about Ironhide's life before he became a part of it.

But, he wondered, did Ironhide keep him from Chromia because of his connection to Megatron? Did he tell her that secret just now? Is that why she left? Would she be able to accept him if she knew? Is this why Ironhide kept him from her? Is this why she withdrew from him so abruptly?!

Bumblebee suddenly blurted, "It's because of me, isn't it? It's because I could feel Megatron in my spark..."

The realization hit Ironhide like a supernova; Bumblebee felt that it was his own fault that Ironhide kept Chromia away...because...because of his spark bond with Megatron... Ironhide was nearly shocked into a spark attack. That was the last question he'd expected Bumblebee to ask. A strange, startled, strangling noise escaped his vocal processors as he took a step back, nearly tripping over his own feet. He had to sit down.

Bumblebee rushed over to him, concern evident in his optics, but whether it was for Ironhide's well-being or over Ironhide's reaction, Ironhide wasn't sure. Probably both.

"No," Ironhide finally managed to get out. "It's not...That has nothing..."

Ironhide reached out his hand and grabbed a hold of Bumblebee's.

"Listen to me…" Ironhide said heavily. "This is not your fault, Bumblebee. Don't put this on yourself… Don't you, not even for a second, ever blame yourself, okay? That's not the reason I kept you separated; I didn't even know at the time." He watched Bumblebee for a moment, wishing Chromia were there now, so that he could feel Bumblebee's spark. He had only one method that assured him that Bumblebee was listening, "Say it."

"But, she...I can't feel..." Bumblebee started.

"Say it!" he practically yelled at him, his grip tightening on Bumblebee's hand.

Bumblebee looked at the floor. "It's not my fault," he mumbled.

"What?" Ironhide demanded. "I can't hear you."

Bumblebee looked him in the optics, saying, very clearly this time, "It's not my fault."

"Okay, good. Don't you _ever_ forget that."

That was the first time Bumblebee had been so direct about his possible relations. Bumblebee had told Ironhide before, when he was very young and being hunted by Megatron. But, he had never inquired about it as he got older. Ironhide preferred not to think about it. It wasn't something he kept in the front of his mind. It was even more completely locked away than his memories of Sunshadow.

As far as Ironhide was concerned, Bumblebee was _his _youngling. He didn't know why _his _youngling had a spark bond with Megatron. He never asked Optimus about it and Optimus never divulged any information on it. He didn't want to know why. It didn't matter. Bumblebee was _his_!

The fact that Bumblebee would feel that the current situation was his own fault, because of some unwanted bond he had with the tyrant, caused Ironhide to feel that he had failed Bumblebee somehow. Primus, this poor youngling. He didn't need this on his shoulders. Such a thought should never even occur to him. It bothered Ironhide, immensely, that Bumblebee would think this.

What kind of burdens did Bumblebee put on himself with the knowledge of this bond? He knew of the enormous burdens that Optimus placed on himself because of the actions of his brother, even blaming himself in some instances. Primus, would Bumblebee be doing the same thing? This was not a weight the young bot needed to carry.

Furthermore, Bumblebee was just as much an Autobot as Optimus was. If Ironhide had ever seen even a slight deviation from that line of thinking, he would have dissuaded it on the spot. No youngling of _his _was going to be a fragging 'Con.

Bumblebee watched him as Ironhide gained control of his systems, wishing Chromia were there so that he could feel Ironhide's spark. It was very clear that they both needed her. Bumblebee tried searching her out through their bond, but he couldn't find her.

Bumblebee sat down with him, his pump racing, his CPU rushing with a hundred thoughts, his spark fluttering with an equal amount of emotion, frustration and confusion topping it all.

Bumblebee's frustration was beginning to overwhelm him. Suddenly, he felt Optimus's presence brush his spark. Optimus was concerned about him, having felt his recent distress. He stayed a bit longer this time, exploring Bumblebee's worries. Then, Optimus sent him reassurance and love. Bumblebee latched on, wanting to respond, but Optimus pulled away again. Bumblebee was used to it, but with his inability to then latch on to Chromia, who was shut off from him as well, Bumblebee cried out in frustration.

"What does it all mean?!"

Ironhide gaped at him in confusion, his sudden outburst surprising him. Bumblebee stared back at him, his optics wide and frenzied. After all that was said, Bumblebee could think about nothing but Chromia. Ironhide had said that it wasn't his fault, he had made him say it, but Bumblebee was still afraid. He remembered what Mikaela had said.

_"She's going to love you for what you are, not who you're related to...Talk to her."_

It seemed that Chromia was still oblivious to the knowledge of his spark bond with Megatron. So, she hadn't left solely because of Bumblebee. There was something else… If he could talk to her, maybe she would open her spark to him again, and, perhaps, shed some light on the situation. Glancing at the floor, Bumblebee stood up quickly, Ironhide suddenly doing the same.

"Bumblebee, wait..." Ironhide started, but there was no stopping him as he rushed past Ironhide, running out the door.

Ironhide stared at the door for several long moments. He leaned against it on his right hand, again, bringing his left one up to rub his temple components as he bowed his head.

"Primus," he mumbled to himself.

What had just happened?

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	20. Revelations

(posted April 13, 2008)

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters (such as Sunshadow) AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas (such as carrying), or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks so much to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 19: **Miss Hiss, blood shifter, flamingmarsh, ferretsareillegal, Bluebird Soaring, Dragowolf, Fae Child 19, RachaelMNiner, thechickenlittle, Violetlight, theshadowcat, Hearts of Eternity, MadameSoybean, Karategal, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, plenoptic, grlwdgrntrk, Xerios, lady tecuma, ****Lecidre, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.**

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**CREDITS AND THANK YOUs:** The magnetic pulses are **Pheonix13's** idea from her stories **"Birds and Bumblebees," "Scent of the Future," **and** "Movie Star."** I use them quite differently, but the basis for my idea with them came from her. Thank you **Phoenix13**! The name 'Floatilla' belongs to **lady tecuma** from **"Sparks and Plasma."** A huge thank you goes out to **Hearts of Eternity** for keeping me on track. I was way off and she reigned me back in. Yet another huge thank you goes to **Violetlight **for beta-ing this for me and for going over every little draft with me, and to **lady tecuma** for reading it over for me.

OMG, this is a huge chapter and I have been working so hard to get it out to you wonderful readers! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you so much for all of the wonderful reviews you've all been leaving!

_Italics are flashbacks._

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 20

Revelations

by Litahatchee

Chromia sat on the very same ledge in the desert that she had driven to before. The beauty of the land formation and the valley below still escaped her notice. It was isolated. Other than a few small Earth mammals skittering nearby, there were no signs of life for miles around. The only sound was the wind moving across the surface of the ground, tiny grains of sand shifting and sliding against each other. At the moment, she was just happy to have the isolation.

She looked down at her abdomen, her spark aching. The first vorn without him was the toughest. She looked for him after every recharge, trying to fill the void in her spark…

As she searched through Ironhide's familial files again, she realized that Ironhide had not forgotten them. She couldn't find his memories of Sunshadow, but she also couldn't find his memories of her. It was strange. He obviously hadn't forgotten her. His feelings for her were very obviously intact from the moment she arrived on this planet.

Yet, she felt...discarded. It was as if he had just tossed them aside, as he would the memories of the Decepticons he had killed. Those memories were still there, he'd just thrown them in a trash file that could be recovered if the need arose, just in case he needed to remember any specific one.

Chromia's spark sank, spark-ache taking over as she began to sorrow. How could he do that to them? How could he do that to her after everything they had been through? He was her reason for living. He had always been her reason...

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_Immediately following Megatron's departure from Floatilla, Chromia lay on the ground, unmoving. The spear had paralyzed her, but it was the pain in her spark at losing Sunshadow that was too much to bear. She drifted in and out of consciousness, content to allow herself to drift into death. If it weren't for another presence, that would have happened soon enough. The presence was right there, lying right next to her, his spark holding on to hers with an iron grip: Ironhide._

_She could feel him holding her hand. At some point she tried to squeeze it, but she didn't know if he felt it. He had moved closer to her, as close as he could get. Neither had any desire to live, and neither were aware of it at the time, but it was his spark that kept her going. This was something that Ratchet knew about sparkmates very well. That was why he insisted on having Ironhide right next to her throughout the entire operation. It was their sparks holding on to each other that kept her alive. If Ironhide weren't there, or if she wasn't bonded to him at all, she would have died before Ratchet even found them. They may have lost all hope, but their sparks had other plans; their sparks would never give up._

_When Ratchet realized that they had lost a sparkling, he knew that keeping them alive, initially, was going to be more difficult. Even though the sparks would never give up, they had lost something very significant. A part of themselves had died. They were suffering from sparkshock. Between the injuries Chromia sustained and the injury their sparks sustained, they would not be able to hold on for long and, eventually, her systems and their sparks would succumb to death. He had wanted to join them to bring her energy levels up to help the injury to her frame, but, now, it was imperative that they be joined to help their sparks. As soon as she was stable enough..._

_Chromia was unaware of the ensuing struggle between Ratchet and Ironhide. She could feel Ironhide's spark next to hers. She could feel herself slipping away. Then, suddenly, Ironhide was within her, his presence bolstering her strength as his spark became merged with hers. She welcomed him in, each of them greeting the other in guilt and sorrow for not being able to keep their sparkling safe. He didn't make it in time...She couldn't keep him hidden...All of this became one and their sparks began speaking to each other as one shared being._

_Each of their voices became mixed and they spoke together, "I forgive you Ironhide/Chromia. We still have each other. We live for each other." There was nothing that they could have done. The blame did not lie within._

_Their sorrow became one within themselves, their joined sparks filling the individual voids Sunshadow left in each of them. The loss and pain was still there, but now it was being shared through the deep love they felt for each other. Ironhide's frame shifted as he brought his arms around her, the contentment that they felt in their shared pain and their shared love bringing them to overload..._

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Chromia shook the memory away. For a long time after that, they fought every joining. Contentment in each other after the death of their creation was not something each of them could accept. However, it was that first joining that kept her alive and gave her the reason she wanted to live from then on: for Ironhide.

Now, it seemed that he had found another reason, and it appeared that it didn't include her, for anything other than the need to have her around in order to keep him alive. Even as she thought it, she refused to believe that it was the truth. It couldn't be true...She was just so angry with him that her anger was blinding her to the reality of the situation.

She suddenly felt Ironhide's intense presence as he pushed through her barriers. He jumped right in, appealing to her spark. A wave of need overtook her. She bent forward, clutching at her chassis, a sigh of want escaping her. She sat like that a minute, allowing the desert wind to cool her off. Even angrier with him than she was before, she forced him out. Frag him! This wasn't the time for games! What was he thinking?!

Another memory surfaced. It was much later...

Her frame had been healing nicely, but her spark and a few of her systems were waning...

She was angry with someone...

Someone who had spent a lot of time trying to help her…

Someone who had been trying to get through to her and, hopefully, to Ironhide, as well...

---

_"I've forgiven him," Chromia said as the crimson-armored femme stood next to her berth, monitoring her spark._

_"Yes, but, you haven't forgiven yourselves," the femme responded. Ironhide may have forgiven Chromia and she may have forgiven him, but they still blamed themselves. Their joinings had renewed their love for each other, but did not help them in their loss. They didn't blame each other for what happened, but they hadn't forgiven themselves. "Until you do that, or you embrace this, it's always going to be there...eating you alive. It'll destroy both of you."_

---

"Not if one of us just discards it all," Chromia retorted to herself angrily.

It was eating _her_ alive, while _Ironhide _got to live in blissful ignorance with another youngling.

---

_"You're not fragging listening! Good Primus, you are the most difficult bonded pair I've ever had to work with!" The femme closed Chromia's chassis and then leaned down to place one hand under her back, directly behind her spark, the other hand resting on Chromia's chassis above her spark._

_"We never asked you for help..." Chromia glared at her, catching the reflection of her face in the femme's shiny black chest and shoulder overlays._

_"Well," the femme said spitefully. "You're getting it whether you like it or not." _

_She sent a strong magnetic pulse to Chromia's spark between her hands. Chromia arched against her painfully._

_"Frag you!" Chromia managed to get out. _

_The femme's magnetic pulses had never been that painful. They were normally used to sooth her spark._

_"Someone has got to get your attention!" the femme growled. "This is going to tear you both apart if you don't fragging listen! You have to get through this...__**together**__, Chromia. Until you do, you'll always have problems. You'll constantly have to forgive each other." _

_She sent Chromia another pulse, this one much softer... Chromia closed her optics, the soothing sensations easing the pain in her spark._

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Chromia's anger pushed the memory from her mind as quickly as it appeared. She didn't know if she could forgive him this time. Pushing her and Sunshadow aside was unforgivable. She felt like she didn't know him anymore. She thought she knew everything about him, but everything that had been revealed to her since their reunion on Earth had come as such a shock. She just didn't know...

Chromia heard movement behind her and she turned to see who it was...It was Bumblebee.

---

Bumblebee wanted time to think. So much had happened since the femme's arrival that he just needed some time alone. At first, he tried to find her, but he was unsuccessful. His frustration building, he decided the best thing was just to be alone for awhile.

He had the perfect spot that he liked to go to in order to think. When he got there, he saw that the femme had found that spot too. When he finally stopped looking for her, he had found her.

She turned to look at him. He just stared back, unsure of what to say, his vocalizers mute in his apprehension. She turned away from him, back towards the valley. Bumblebee bowed his head in rejection.

He caught movement of her hand and looked up to see her patting the ground next to her, indicating for him to sit with her. His optics beamed in excitement.

"Hi," he said nervously as he settled himself beside her.

She didn't say anything as she continued to look over the valley, realizing the beauty for the first time as her optics took in the many colors of the desert floor below.

"I don't want you to go," Bumblebee suddenly blurted, turning away in embarrassment.

She finally looked at him. "I'm not going anywhere. If anyone has to go, it's him. I should just kill him and be done with it," she said angrily, but softly.

Bumblebee stared at her with wide optics, unsure of what to make of her words, shocked at how familiar she sounded, her tone, her temper...

Chromia mistook his shocked expression as one of concern for his caretaker. "I'm just kidding, Bumblebee," she assured him.

"It's not that!" Bumblebee said with surprise in his voice. "You...You sound just like him!" She was so much like Ironhide that it was scary.

A half smile played across her features and she looked out across the valley again.

"Why are you so mad at him?" Bumblebee asked.

"It's complicated, Bumblebee," she answered. "I don't know what to think about my sparkmate hiding a youngling from me." She understood why Ironhide did it, but it was still a shock to her.

"I don't know what to think about my caretaker hiding his sparkmate from me," Bumblebee commented back.

Chromia watched him a moment as they sat in silence. In a way, they were in the same situation. They both held a mech dear to them that held them dear to him, but he never bothered to introduce them to each other. Only one of them understood his reasoning.

After some length, she finally spoke. "We…" she hesitated, "lost a sparkling." Her pain was evident in her voice.

Bumblebee's own anger at Ironhide completely dissolved as the weight of what she had just revealed to him sank into his processor, into his very spark. He suddenly understood: Ironhide's fierce protection over him, Ironhide's pain in his optics when he saw him with Ratchet, the pain he felt in Ironhide's spark...Chromia's pain. It all came together in one solid moment of clarity. They had their own sparkling, one that was no longer with them.

Bumblebee reached over and placed a hand over hers. She stared at it; the simple, loving gesture surprising her.

"Was it a femme?" he asked next.

"No, it was a little mech," she answered with surprising ease.

Bumblebee was dumbfounded. Ironhide had his own sparkling. Bumblebee wondered if Ironhide's sparkling would have adopted him as a brother. He had full spark bonds that could have been considered brothers, of course, even though, in Earth terms, one was his creator and the other an uncle, but those relationships were far from settled. He could have had a brother that he could have played with. He had an older brother...

"What was his name?" Bumblebee wanted to know everything about him.

Chromia looked up into his optics, pleasantly surprised at the interest Bumblebee was showing in her sparkling.

"It was Sunshadow," she answered with a tinge of joy in her voice.

"That's a nice name," Bumblebee said, his optics smiling.

She began to open herself up to him, but still remained unsure. She did not want the comfort he could provide replacing Sunshadow. She could see that Bumblebee was content with just the limited contact.

Bumblebee could feel her in his spark again, though it was distant. He didn't mind, though. Any spark interaction was fine with him.

They sat in silence again, Bumblebee imagining what his life might have been like as Sunshadow's little brother. Another thought occurred to him…

"Is that why Ironhide has a carry hold?" he asked.

"How did you know that?!" Chromia exclaimed, practically jumping in surprise.

"He used to carry me in it," Bumblebee answered joyfully.

Chromia was completely taken aback. Ironhide allowed a sparkling that wasn't his into his hold? That was very unusual and...so loving and affectionate that Chromia's love for Ironhide swelled in her spark. As temperamental and rough as he was, his compassion could be overwhelming, even to her. She almost reached out to him, but her thick, stubborn, CPU prevented her from doing so. She was angry with him right now, for good reason. His adorable actions with Bumblebee weren't going to melt her resolve...

"I couldn't attach to his spark, so I just sat in it," Bumblebee continued. "I felt so safe in there."

"You were processing memory then?" Chromia asked. Normally, the ability to save a memory came to a sparkling after the carrying phase.

"Oh yes!" Bumblebee explained. "Ratchet couldn't find enough material to build my second frame for a long time so Ironhide kept carrying me. Ratchet had to tell him to stop. He thought that I was becoming too dependent on Hide. But, when Ratchet wasn't looking, he used to sneak me in. I think Ratchet had it all backwards, that _Hide_ was too dependant on _me_." His optics were beaming with joy.

Chromia laughed and Bumblebee's spark responded in happiness that he could bring her to do so.

"You remind me of Sunshadow," Chromia said to him after a moment. "He was always so cheerful."

Bumblebee almost didn't believe that. Ironhide's sparkling, cheerful? Somehow, that didn't fit. Feeling his skepticism, Chromia laughed again. Ironhide's better qualities were always hidden from those around him. However, they came out in his sparkling naturally and openly.

"I don't think I can live up to what he was to you..." Bumblebee said after another moment of silence.

Bumblebee sounded so disappointed that Chromia almost assured him that he was every bit as important to her as Sunshadow was. She bowed her head, afraid of what that might mean. She didn't want to replace Sunshadow with anyone, no matter how much she cared for him or her. However, he was afraid that he couldn't replace Sunshadow and she was afraid that he could...

"...But," he continued. "Do you have room in your spark for me?"

Chromia slowly looked up into his expectant optics. Bumblebee wasn't asking for replacement of anybody. He wasn't asking her to forget. He wasn't asking her to move on...He just wanted to know if she had room for one more. He wanted so badly to belong, not to _replace _Sunshadow, but to have a place in her spark _alongside _Sunshadow.

She placed her free hand over the hand that was still holding hers, "Yes."

Drawing air into her intakes, preparing to have him be a part of her spark, she opened herself completely to him, her presence flooding into his. He reached back, clamping on to her presence with an intense need, the voids in his spark so painful that she was amazed he could carry that burden.

She suddenly felt guilty for shutting him out the way she did. The youngling obviously needed her. She needed him. She could help ease his suffering. She felt certain that his creators would want that. If her sparkling had lost her, she would have wanted a femme to help him.

Bumblebee could feel the intense pain in Chromia's spark as well, the vast loss that Sunshadow had left within her.

"What happened to Sunshadow?" Bumblebee almost whispered, unsure that he could even ask, regretting that he asked as soon as he asked it. He was unsure that she would even answer. However, after a moment, she did.

"He was killed at Floatilla," she whispered, so low that he almost didn't hear her.

Bumblebee had heard of the Floatilla Massacre. His spark sank...He also knew _who_ the mastermind was for the attack. Oh, no...

Chromia felt Bumblebee's sudden despondence. Something was bothering him immensely.

"Was it..." he hesitated, but Chromia gave him a boost of confidence through her spark. "Was it Megatron?"

She looked away, the void in her spark spiking momentarily. Bumblebee started to apologize, but she stopped him. Unable to speak, the memory too painful to bear, she merely nodded her head.

She suddenly felt a painful spike in the most recent loss that Bumblebee's spark was suffering from. He looked away from her as what felt like guilt emanated from him.

"I am so sorry for what he did," Bumblebee whispered in sadness.

Chromia looked at him in surprise, "You're sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for."

Did this youngling somehow think that it was his fault? Did he think it was his fault because he was there with them, and their sparkling wasn't? Poor little mech. He shouldn't be harboring any survivor's guilt and he certainly shouldn't be blaming himself.

She chuckled in spite of it all, "You sound like Optimus, always blaming himself for what his brother was doing."

Bumblebee's head shot up, his spark tightening in anxiety. It was becoming apparent that Ironhide hadn't told her about his spark bond. He didn't want her to know about his connection with Optimus; not now, not after learning that Megatron had killed her sparkling.

Chromia felt his sudden apprehension, "You've picked up everyone's bad habits, haven't you?"

He cursed like Ironhide, he blamed himself like Optimus...Chromia wondered if he might start throwing wrenches at her, like Ratchet, at any moment...

Bumblebee didn't find any humor in her words, at the moment. Bumblebee felt withdrawn, worried about something...The pain in his spark rising in his chest.

"None of this is your fault," she soothed.

She just sat with him, sending him as much reassurance through their bond as she could, allowing him to calm himself down.

"Come here," Chromia said to him after a moment.

"What?" he asked.

"Sit right here," she indicated for him to sit in front of her. "With your back to me."

He did as he was told.

"Someone very special taught me this," she said.

"Was it a femme?" he asked, turning to face her.

She laughed, "Well, yes, actually...You're obsessed with femmes."

"What are you going to do?" he wanted to know.

"I'm going to help ease the pain from your sparkshock," she explained.

"My what?"

"Just lean back, Bumblebee."

He just stared at her. "Can I feel all femmes' sparks?" he asked next.

It was becoming clear that she was going to need to teach this bot about bonds. He didn't quite understand why he could feel hers and not Ironhide's.

"Yes, it's in our programming. This connection is here for your protection as a youngling. As soon as you are an adult, it will be gone..."

"But that...that's too soon," he panicked.

She reached out to him, soothing his fear, "It's okay, Bumblebee. It's the way we're built." She understood how he felt; she needed to accept it herself. "We have it now, though. We'll just make the best of it while it lasts."

He allowed himself to be comforted and almost leaned back, but he had so many questions! He desperately wanted to know his femme creator. The AllSpark hadn't told him that he even had one, but there was no denying the first void in his spark. Because there was a void, he knew that she was dead. He also knew that she was a Decepticon, which only served to increase his concerns over Megatron being his mech creator. However, the AllSpark had said it was Optimus. When Optimus revealed he had a sparkmate to Bumblebee, there was no indication that she had died, but perhaps the poor mech was in denial. He didn't know how long a bonded mate could live after the other one died, but maybe...just maybe...

"Was Elita a Decepticon?" If Elita was a Decepticon, then that would confirm to him that Optimus was, indeed, his mech creator.

Chromia laughed, "Where do you get these ideas? Of course not!"

Bumblebee sagged a little in disappointment as it still appeared that the AllSpark told him wrong. Chromia was oblivious to his concerns.

"Lean back, brightspark," Chromia said and he smiled at the endearment. Finally, he did so and she leaned forward into his back as he leaned back into her chassis, so that her spark was directly behind his.

"You know Elita?" she asked. Surprisingly, she wasn't angry, but she was sad about the possibility that Elita hadn't told her of Bumblebee.

A lot of it had to do with Bumblebee having a calming affect on her. His spark was in turmoil, but his presence projected a calm and assurance that reminded her of Optimus more than anything. She couldn't feel Optimus's spark, of course, but his presence had always been so powerful that these things emanated from him to all those around him.

She brought her right arm around him and placed her hand on his chassis over his spark.

"Just relax," she said.

"I don't know her," he said as he tried to relax against her, her spark projecting a soothing presence within his. She felt very much like the femme he had known so long ago..."I wish I knew Elita. Optimus told me during the AllSpark mission. Do you know her?"

"Oh, yes, very well..." Chromia concentrated on directing comforting sensations to Bumblebee's troubled spark without allowing his to comfort her own. She needed her pain. She needed it to keep Sunshadow close.

"Where is she?" he asked next.

She was silent a moment and then, "I don't know...We had to split up."

She didn't elaborate any further as she sent a small magnetic pulse to his spark from her right hand while her spark sent a pulse of soothing sensations through his frame.

Suddenly, Bumblebee felt the pain in his spark lesson considerably. A wave of comfort caressed and soothed his spark before it dispersed throughout his frame, leaving him feeling better than he'd felt in a long time.

"Whoah!" he exclaimed excitedly. "What was that?!"

"Shhh," she shushed softly. "Relax...It hurts if you're not relaxed. No one has ever done this for you before?" she asked, very surprised.

He shook his head, "No."

"Not even Ratchet?"

He shook his head again. She was confused for a moment. Did they not know about his losses?

"They don't know, do they?" she asked.

"No, I've never told Ratchet."

Primus, what was wrong with all these mechs? They all had secrets. She couldn't help but notice how well adjusted this young bot was, though, even though he had to deal with this on his own.

He relaxed into her as she did it again, the sensations relieving the first void he had experienced. She moved her hand over his chassis before pressing it firmly against it again, sending him another pulse that relieved the most recent loss. How could she pinpoint it like that? He marveled to himself.

"How are you doing that?" he asked.

"Since I have a spark bond with you, I can feel where you're hurting. It works better with someone you have a bond with, but anyone can do this for you," she explained.

He thought of her leaning against Ironhide, his hand over her chassis… "Is this what Ironhide was doing to you?"

"Well, yes, after a fashion," she answered. "It's different with sparkmates."

"What does it mean to be a sparkmate, exactly?" He had asked Ratchet about sparkmates once, but Ratchet didn't say much about it.

"Didn't Ironhide teach you anything?" she asked in annoyance at Ironhide as she sent him another pulse.

"He taught me how to fight," Bumblebee answered innocently.

She smiled, "Of course he did."

"Ironhide and I merged our sparks. He is exactly one half of me and I am one half of him. Because we did that, our individual sparks are no longer whole. The only way they can be whole again is when we are joined." As she explained this to Bumblebee, his optics grew wider and wider.

"Why would anyone do that?!" he asked, astounded.

"Out of love," she answered, shrugging. "Because when you find who you are meant to be with, you want to be a part of them forever."

"I didn't think Ironhide could love somebody that much," he commented.

Chromia laughed. "That's what they all said." Then she added, "There's more to Ironhide than you know." She nudged him playfully with her shoulder.

"Yea, so I'm learning," Bumblebee said, turning his head slightly, looking at her pointedly.

Realizing the meaning of his words, that there was, indeed, more to Ironhide than he knew, such as having a sparkmate, Chromia nudged him again.

"Yea, I guess that makes two of us," she said, as she certainly was learning a thing or two about Ironhide that she didn't know either, such as raising a sparkling on his own.

She sent a larger wave through Bumblebee, to encompass his entire spark, soothing both the losses at once. He jumped a little at the intensity.

"You should have told somebody. You don't have to endure this alone." She concentrated on the first void again.

"It's not that bad," he said modestly. "That one's been there my whole life. It got covered up when it got bad."

Covered up? Chromia looked at him suspiciously. That would mean that there was someone close by that had a spark bond with him, someone who knew how to fill the loss. Since the pain was back, perhaps, now, that someone was gone. She sent a pulse to his most recent loss. It was very recent, probably within the last few Earth years... She thought of Jazz again and wondered if the loss was Jazz, but, then, wouldn't everyone have known if Jazz had a spark bond with Bumblebee? That didn't make sense to her, since Ironhide said they didn't know where Bumblebee came from...

Her next thought was that, perhaps, he had a spark bond with one of the Decepticons that died at Mission City. She shook that thought away as quickly as it came. It was unlikely that one of them had been soothing Bumblebee's loss.

She didn't ask him about it, as she went back to soothing the first lost. A lost bond was very private. He may not understand bonds, but he knew who he was bonded to. He would tell her about it if and when he was ready. For now, she was content in helping relieve his pains.

"It was a femme," Bumblebee said as the pain dispersed from his spark.

"A femme?" Chromia was confused at first.

Bumblebee didn't even know what she was when he first saw her, so how did he suddenly know one of his losses was a femme? However, he lost the bond at a very young age. Perhaps, he didn't know the difference at that time.

"Yea, I realized it was a femme when I felt your spark. You remind me of her," he answered. "I don't remember much about her, but she used to sing to me. She loved me very much, I think. I don't even know her name," he continued sadly. "I can remember something about it, but it's my sparkling voice...something like...'Fi-yure.' I remember a little about her armor. It was a deep crimson color. There was something on it that was so shiny that I could see myself in it..."

Chromia stiffened as the recognition of who he was describing sank into her processor, "...with optics the color of her armor."

"How'd you know that?!" Bumblebee asked, his sudden alarm causing him to jump in her arms.

Chromia could suddenly see the femme clearly in her memory: _The femme was watching over Chromia intently, scarlet optics meeting hers as she whispered, "Try and relax." There was yelling in the background, threatening, protective; it was Ironhide..._

The memory faded. Bumblebee knew that femme...But, how? Could it be? Surely she would have told Chromia if she had been carrying a sparkling. Perhaps not, though; Chromia and Ironhide hadn't told anyone of their sparkling. Not even their closest friends knew about him.

The femme had lived a lot longer than any of them had expected. Perhaps, that had to do with having a sparkling. Chromia had originally thought that Bumblebee was too young to have been around during the time of Floatilla, but now she wondered if she had misjudged his age.

"She was a Decepticon," Bumblebee's voice cut through her thoughts, his words sounding like the cross between a statement and a question. He knew, but he wanted confirmation...

"She was," Chromia's voice trailed off as she tried to get over the initial shock that Bumblebee knew this femme.

"Am I?" Bumblebee asked, somewhat concerned.

Chromia held him as close to her as possible, "You aren't sparked into a faction, Bumblebee. You're born as a Cybertronian. You choose which faction you want to belong to." She sent him an extra soothing magnetic pulse to hopefully calm him as well as comfort the pain that suddenly spiked up from the femme's loss. "It looks to me like you've made your choice."

"Well, I don't think Ironhide gave me much of a choice," he retorted with a chuckle, accepting her comfort as intently as she gave it.

She laughed, "No, he wouldn't have it any other way." Chromia knew there would be no way Ironhide would have allowed Bumblebee to become a Decepticon.

Bumblebee couldn't bring himself to tell her that the second loss was a Decepticon too..._the _Decepticon...the very Decepticon that killed her sparkling. No wonder Ironhide had been in such denial for so long. He probably refused to believe it, that he could will the truth away by never even addressing it.

Bumblebee became extremely afraid that she would reject him if she knew, especially now. It was obvious that Ironhide hadn't told her. Bumblebee buried the knowledge as deep as he could. She wasn't asking about it. She wasn't pushing him at all. Perhaps he could tell her one day, but not now.

They sat in silence as Chromia finished the spark therapy that she had learned from the Decepticon femme that they both knew.

"Does that feel better?" she asked.

"Yes, thank you," he answered.

"It isn't a permanent fix," she informed him. If he wanted relief, he would need that help for the rest of his life.

She gently pushed him away and started to stand.

"Where are you going? Are you leaving?" he asked.

"I've got to ask somebody something." There was one bot that she knew of that possibly knew about how Bumblebee was related to the femme. "Don't worry, Bumblebee. Everything is going to be okay," she assured him.

"What about Ironhide?" he asked as she walked away.

Bumblebee felt a spike of anger from her side of the bond, but he knew it was most definitely directed at Ironhide.

"I'll deal with that fragger later," she said. Then she seemed to catch herself, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't speak like that around you."

"That's okay," Bumblebee shrugged. "I cuss all the time."

"So, I've heard," she gave him a sidelong glance. Like she was thinking, he had picked up all of their bad habits.

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Chromia entered the med bay, intent on finding Ratchet. He was there. He turned as she came in.

"Chromia!" Ratchet exclaimed. "There you are. I've been trying to contact you. I think I've found a way to replace..." He trailed off as he got a better look at her. "Good Primus, what have you and Ironhide been doing? By the looks of you, you two are not joining," he scolded harshly. "You need to join with him right now."

Ratchet started to call Ironhide and she stopped him.

"I wouldn't join with him right now if my life depended on it!" she growled, still very angry.

"Your life does depend on it, Chromia! What do I fragging have to do this time? You know how serious I am about this..." Ratchet growled back.

Ignoring Ratchet and his unconventional methods for the time being, Chromia hurriedly said to him, "He knew her!"

Ratchet paused...What? "He knew who?" he asked.

"Bumblebee..." she started.

One of Ratchet's optic ridges went up. It appeared that Chromia finally knew about Bumblebee. That was a good thing...

"Bumblebee knew her!" she continued.

"What are you talking about? Knew who?"

Chromia couldn't remember the femme's name to save her life. She hadn't been able to remember her own sparkling's name, and the memories of this femme were on the same damn chip. It looked like the femme's name was another casualty of her deletions. However, she remembered plenty.

"The femme who lost her sparkmate at Floatilla...The CMO...The Decepticon CMO of Floatilla. He knew her, Ratchet. Bumblebee knew her..."

Ratchet slowly took a step back as she spoke, not bothering to hide the surprise and shock from his faceplates. He slowly sat down, his legs becoming weak as they were no longer able to hold up his weight. No one had mentioned this femme for a very long time.

Ratchet knew her, very well. In the short time that she had spent with them, she had made a larger impression on his life than any other Cybertronian he knew. It now appeared that she made a large impression on _all_ of their lives.

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	21. A Long Road

(posted April 27, 2008)

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. (I own Sunshadow, the idea of carrying, some of the bond stuff, and the idea of spark mating as applied to the mind, body, and soul connections.)

Huge thanks to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 20: **Bluebird Soaring, blood shifter, thechickenlittle, Dragowolf, flamingmarsh, Cricket24, theshadowcat, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, ArmoredSoul, Fae Child19, MadameSoybean, Hearts of Eternity, ferretsareillegal, lady tecuma, Xerios, Lecidre, ****grlwdgrntrk, Shizuka Taiyou, **and **iratepirate. **

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: knightly85, the laughing hermit, Satans-Camaro, Leandra Wynn**

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**CREDIT RECAP, RECOMMENDATIONS, and THANK YOUs**: Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity,** **grlwdgrntrk, violetlight, ****Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo.** My story doesn't necessarily follow in sequence with stories written by these authors. I suppose it could follow sequence to **Hearts of Eternity's "What Time We Have Left," **the chapters on Ironhide and Chromia. However, she has a sequal to that story called, "**As We Come Together," **which is just an amazing read. 'Night Fire' could also follow sequence to **Karategal's "Youngling"** and **"Little Brother." **I am taking a direct reference to her idea of Bumblebee and where he originated and also her stuff on the sparklings/younglings/femmes getting attacked. This stuff is so good, it ought to apply to the real Transformers story line. I am using **lady tecuma's** terminology from her "**Sparks and Plasma**" and also continuing reference of Bumblebee's origins and the Floatilla Massacre, as she has defined it. I'm using **grlwdgrntrk's **idea of spark splitting from her fic, **"Face Down."** I am using some of **Violetlight's **terminology, in addition to all the ideas generated from our discussions; the term "brightspark" is coming from her. The magnetic pulse idea is coming from **Phoenix13's "Birds and Bumblebees**." Thanks to ALL of you!

Additional thanks goes out to **lady tecuma** for beta-reading this chapter.

_Italics_ are a flashback. Okay, so I've got a double flashback in this one too. I tried to make it as clear as possible, so this is what I've done...The flashback within a flashback is denoted by **777777777777777** and is in _**bold faced italics**_.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 21

A Long Road

by Litahatchee

Ratchet stared at the floor, replaying what Chromia had just said to him:

_"Bumblebee knew her!" she continued._

_"What are you talking about? Knew who?"_

_"The femme who lost her sparkmate at Floatilla...the CMO...The Decepticon CMO of Floatilla. He knew her, Ratchet. Bumblebee knew her..."_

He looked up at Chromia, thinking back to the first joining immediately following her operation. It was always said that if one looked back on his life, one could pinpoint the defining moments where his life had taken a turn in another direction. As Ratchet looked back on his long life, one such moment stood out. He had always considered that first joining, between Ironhide and Chromia, the defining moment that marked the beginning of the rest of his life...

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_"Chromia is still alive, but she won't be if you don't join with her right NOW. I need you to take care of the living!" Ratchet was saying to Ironhide._

_Ironhide had completely given up by this point. He focused on Ratchet with that disconcertingly red optic and growled, _"_We don't want to live!"_

"_Ratchet, we're losing her!" First Aid said quickly to him._

_Ratchet grabbed Ironhide by his rib-like foreplate and pulled him up harshly, shaking him, "You are going to live! If you don't join with her right now, I am going to join you to her myself!"_

_To emphasize his point, he pulled open Ironhide's chassis. Ratchet's spark felt heavy for the sparkling inside, but he took it out gently. Ironhide did not protest this time. _

_Ratchet then shoved Ironhide's open chest towards Chromia's and Ironhide pushed him away, saying, "Stop, I'll do it." _

_There was a low, harsh clicking noise coming from deep within his throat and Ratchet realized Ironhide was crying now._

_Once Ironhide was completely merged with Chromia, Ratchet closely monitored their joined sparks, waiting for the moment of overload that would create a burst of energy, a burst of energy Chromia's injured frame desperately needed. Ratchet needed to make sure that this burst of energy went into her frame instead of draining it, which could also be an effect of overloading._

_"Frag," Ratchet cursed when he realized how difficult this was going to be without her interface port. _

_Interfacing could be used to transfer energon from one Cybertronian to another. Any Cybertronian could do this; one did not need to be spark bonded to another. Ratchet could even do this for Chromia if she still had her port, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. Her energon levels were way below Ironhide's. She needed a spark merge in order to bring her levels up so that their systems would be balanced. He was then hoping to get more energy to her frame by channeling the extra energy that would be produced from Ironhide's overload to her._

_A spark merge produced energy. This was an advantage that bonded mates had over Cybertronians who chose not to join their sparks with anyone. Sparkmates could essentially generate their own energy. In this way, they could support each other's systems in ways that non-sparkbonded Cybertronians could not. It wasn't an end all solution to energon production. They still needed to acquire energy from outside sources, but in this case with Chromia, it was a more potent form of energy that was better than any transfusion that Ratchet could administer, even if she still had her interface port, whether that be through interface or even through the CPU port. _

_This particular quality of sparkmates was a condition of one of their main functions, other than the joy of companionship through their pure love, which was spark-mating...In the creation of a sparkling, a lot of energy was needed. As all connections were made through the CPU, the frame, and the spark, the program to initiate a new spark began to run. The energy created through the spark merge would then be transferred through the mech's interface transfer cable to the femme, whose spark would split, needing this energy to sustain the split and the new spark. Information pertaining to the frames of both the mech and the femme would also be transferred through this connection. Information pertaining to the mind and character of the creators would be transferred through the CPU interface connection. _

_However, in an emergency such as the one presented to Ratchet right then, the energy from the overload of a spark merge could be channeled through the interface port in order to sustain the injuries that one or both of the bonded pair may be suffering from. In this way, Ratchet could use the same principle to get Chromia the energy she needed to heal herself. However, he was forced to remove her interface port, as it was damaged beyond repair. How was he going to be sure that the energy from the overload would be channeled into Chromia instead of draining from her? _

_Thinking fast, Ratchet hurriedly unwound Chromia's CPU cable from her wrist. He then connected it to Ironhide's interfacing port on his abdomen. Ratchet regarded the connection with some skepticism..._

_"Is that going to work?" First Aid asked, indicating Chromia's wrist cable at Ironhide's interfacing port, his question exactly what Ratchet was thinking._

_"It would be better if we could connect his interfacing cable, but since her port is gone, this is the best thing I can think of. Hopefully, she'll get what she needs through this connection." Ratchet paused before adding, "I'm open to suggestions if you have a better idea..."_

_First Aid locked optics with him, knowing that Ratchet wasn't sure. It was the first time he'd ever heard the CMO admit that he had a doubt. Concern was written all over Ratchet's faceplates as he stared at First Aid for an answer...__**any **__answer._

_"I have none," First Aid said with worry in his voice. He watched the pair for a moment as Ironhide embraced Chromia fully, and then added, "This will work, Ratchet; they're going to be fine." He tried to sound reassuring._

_The overload came, very little of the energy making it through the connection and not near as successful as what an overload through the interfacing transfer cable would have been. The extra connection wasn't any better than just having the spark merge being the only connection, which helped anyway since energon balance was gained through a spark merge, a balance she needed as well. However, it wasn't only balance that Ratchet was looking for. He wanted Chromia to gain more, for the amount of energy gained to be tipped in her favor. _

_All in all, it was enough to sustain her frame for a little while. He was still pleased with the results. He was just going to have to have them join more frequently than he had originally thought. At the time, though, he hadn't realized how difficult that was going to be, as they were going to fight it every step of the way, until his brilliant plan changed all that..._

_Ironhide was the first to return to consciousness. He slowly brought his hand up and caressed Chromia's face. She remained unconscious; Ratchet realized that she probably would be for awhile._

_"It's not your fault," Ironhide was whispering. "I forgive you. We still have each other."_

_Watching him, Ratchet said to First Aid, "It's going to be a long road to recovery."_

_Regarding Chromia for a moment, Ratchet decided an energy transfusion from him could give her that extra boost he was looking for. He reached around the back of her neck to administer it through her CPU port, the only way that was available to him now. _

_Ironhide went ballistic, shoving Ratchet's hand away, and pulling Chromia to his chest protectively. Ratchet said a silent 'thank you' to Primus that Ironhide's cannons were offline, which was standard procedure for patients with injuries such as theirs. He was certain that Ironhide would have shot him on the spot before thinking who it was he was shooting. _

_At that moment, he hadn't known what happened to her at the plaza and Ironhide would never let him near her CPU from then on out. When it became absolutely necessary, she would only allow Ironhide to perform transfusions. However, more than a few times had presented themselves where he and one other had found it imperative to do it themselves..._

_Right then, Ratchet would have insisted that he give her the transfusion if it weren't for the fact that Ironhide's reaction, in turn, caused a negative reaction in her spark, as it started pulsing erratically. Caught off guard, Ratchet and First Aid spent the next few breems trying to calm Ironhide down enough so that her spark pulse would return to normal. _

_"A long road, indeed," First Aid commented once the brief struggle was over._

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_The number of bondeds among Ratchet's increasing number of patients following the Floatilla Massacre, as it quickly became known as, and the ensuing battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, was growing by the joor. Most of the bondeds had no other injuries. In fact, many came to him of their own accord, seeking comfort for their aching sparks. They were suffering from sparkshock, a condition that occurred when a mate was lost. He had seen sparkshock occurring in Cybertronians who lost those who were spark bonded to them through other relations as well, such as siblings. However, these patients would live. They may have to endure painful voids forever, but their lives weren't cut short because of it. _

_The spark-shocked patients who had lost their sparkmates were another story entirely, especially since their sparkshock would kill them. He didn't know the best way to treat any of them. Wheeljack had joined him and First Aid, helping out as best as he could, but he didn't know what to do either. Most suffered in silence, so they just made them as comfortable as possible. However, there were a few screamers. Those Ratchet suggested they sedate, hoping that time would ease the pain, one way or the other. _

_They could offer these patients little hope. They had lost their sparkmates; one half of their sparks were missing and could never be joined with their other halves again. It was only a matter of time before they passed on as well. Each one could probably live a while longer, if he had a purpose or a reason. Ratchet couldn't provide one for any of them, though. They needed to find that on their own. Many of them wouldn't want to, and those would pass fairly quickly. _

_There was little else Ratchet could do for them. He could handle broken bodies. He excelled at combat medication and repair. He could repair almost any injury sustained to a frame, though Chromia's injuries were proving to be a challenge...Broken sparks, however, were something else entirely. _

888888888888888

_The first time Ratchet saw her was in the midst of all the chaos and confusion. Optimus was the one who brought her in, which surprised Ratchet due to the situation Optimus had been dealing with. He was carrying her, unconscious, in his arms. Ratchet immediately saw that she was a Decepticon._

_"We're granting her asylum," Optimus said to him, solemnly._

_Ratchet took the femme from Optimus as Optimus relayed to him how he came to meet her... _

**777777777777777**

_**One lone bonded Decepticon femme appeared out of the carnage. She had worn her Decepticon symbol proudly on her chassis. It looked as if she had been trying to scratch it off. She knelt before Optimus and reached up to grab his hand, pressing her forehead to the back of it.**_

"_**I pledge what's left of my life to your cause," she said to him.**_

**777777777777777**

_She wasn't a small femme, though she was roughly the same size as Chromia. She looked like she could hold her own in a fight pretty well. Judging by the numerous injuries Ratchet detected from a quick scan, she had, apparently, fought hard. He noted her crimson color. Red was a powerful color; it exuded confidence. He noticed the energon spattered black overlays, briefly wondering what they were for. The very first thing he noticed, however, was the mark on her chassis that indicated that she was bonded._

_"Frag," he cursed openly; another patient he didn't know how to help. _

_"She gave me our first lead to Elita," Optimus's voice trailed a little as he said his sparkmate's name. Then, he said, "Then she just collapsed." He continued to explain, "There was a Decepticon mech among the bonded dead in the plaza. Jazz identified him as designation 'Deluge.' I believe he was her sparkmate. I'm assuming the loss finally overwhelmed her."_

_Ratchet ran his fingers over the scratched Decepticon symbol on her chassis. His spark went out to her. Decepticon or not, he couldn't imagine what it would be like for one's faction to turn against you so violently, for one's beliefs to be shattered so completely. _

_Wheeljack then came up to take her from Ratchet. They would treat her injuries, but they wouldn't know how she would handle her sparkshock until she woke up._

_Ratchet could only nod his head. The entire situation was too much to handle, for anybody. Even the Decepticon bondeds weren't spared. It was a form of genocide in the worst way possible. He just didn't know what to say. It was horrifying._

_"How are Ironhide and Chromia?" Optimus asked, taking his mind off of his pain over Elita, if only for a few moments._

_Ratchet knew he was changing the subject from his own situation. Optimus always put his soldiers before himself._

_Ratchet decided to allow Optimus his small respite, sighing, "Chromia has been in recharge since the initial operation. I had Ironhide join with her. She's stable, but hasn't given any signs of waking up. Ironhide is..." he paused. "Well, he's...calm. He refuses to go into recharge. He hasn't taken his optics off of her. He hasn't spoken a word to anyone. He can't walk, let alone transform. I'm getting ready to replace the wiring in his damaged leg. He'll be able to walk after that, but he's always going to have problems with it."_

_Ratchet grew silent, regarding Optimus for a moment, "Did you know about the sparkling?" _

_"No," Optimus answered, sadly. He knew what had happened. Elita had transmitted the entire ordeal to him as it happened, but neither Ironhide nor Chromia had told him they produced a sparkling. He did not know of it until Elita witnessed the death._

_"He's suffering from a form of sparkshock due to the loss of his sparkling. I imagine Chromia is too," Ratchet continued. _

_He knew sparkmates suffered from this condition when they lost their mate and he had witnessed it occurring from other lost spark bonds, but he never heard of a case of a lost sparkling. It just didn't happen, not in his experience. Sparklings rarely died before their creators and outright murder had NEVER been an issue. It seemed that the loss resulted in sparkshock that was just as bad as losing a mate. He didn't think that they could die from the loss alone, but it seemed to him that it was just as painful. It made sense; the sparkling came from their sparks. Ratchet just never had to think about it before. The pain Ironhide was in must have been considerable. _

_"When did you build his frame?" Optimus asked, his voice cutting through Ratchet's thoughts._

_"I didn't. I didn't know about him either," Ratchet answered._

_Optimus looked upon him in surprise, shocked that Ironhide and Chromia hadn't asked Ratchet to build their sparkling's frame._

_After a few moments of silence, Ratchet brought the topic back to Optimus's well-being, "How are you doing, Optimus?"_

_"I don't know what their intentions are," Optimus started. _

_In fact, Optimus had believed that they would have killed her by now. He thought he was as good as dead. He was even contemplating handing over the Matrix of Leadership. He just hadn't decided who, yet._

_Optimus continued, "She's still alive. Mirage, Smokescreen, and Hound are tracking the possible lead that the Decepticon femme gave us from Floatilla. So far, nothing has turned up. Jazz has a double agent working on it too." Optimus drew air into his intakes. "As far as the two of us," speaking of he and Elita, "...I haven't lost contact with her in my spark." Optimus grew quiet again before saying, "As soon as they find another lead..." _

_Ratchet hoped they would find her in time. He did not want to be faced with treating Optimus for sparkshock. If they lost Prime, then what were they going to do? Ratchet knew that Optimus would do everything within his power to get her back. He couldn't imagine the enormous pressures the mech was under from the recent events and the kidnapping of his sparkmate. _

_Ratchet nodded, bringing his next worry to question, "...And the AllSpark?"_

_"Safely hidden," Optimus replied._

_Ratchet sighed with relief at that news. It was the only good news he had heard since this all began. When Megatron went after it, he had feared the worst. Thank Primus, Optimus was able to win that battle._

_"No one is to know where it is. We cannot risk any more sparklings. All are forbidden to approach it until further notice."_

_Indeed, Cybertron was a changed world. Nothing was ever going to be the same again. _

---

'Of course,' Ratchet thought to himself. 'The events leading up to and surrounding that moment had marked the beginning of the rest of ALL of our lives...'

8888


	22. The Pit

(posted May 16, 2008)

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks a bunch to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 21: **blood shifter, flamingmarsh, riah riddle, Bluebird Soaring, Dragowolf, thechickenlittle, theshadowcat, Fae Child19, Violetlight, ArmoredSoul, MadameSoybean, Hearts of Eternity, ferretsareillegal, lady tecuma, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Xerios, Lecidre, ****grlwdgrntrk, **and** Shizuka Taiyou.**

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**NOTE:** I wanted to show what sparkshock might be like with this chapter. The way this particular being feels mirrors what the others with sparkshock are feeling. I thought it would be more interesting to show it through this particular point of view. It's short, but I ended it where I did because I thought that this particular ending could stand on its own, only because I couldn't stop laughing when I wrote the last sentence. The irony seemed too good. It's a dark humor, as nothing leading up to that last sentence is funny. It'll be fun to see what you guys think about this one. Things will become clear as we go along. Thank you for all the wonderful support and reviews thus far.

The entire chapter is in _italics_, as the entire chapter is in the past.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 22

The Pit

by Litahatchee

_It was the pain..._

…_the pain that brought her back to consciousness. It was so sharp, so intense, that she could no longer remain in a recharge state. _

_Waves of pain shot from her spark, through her neural relays, reaching all extremities of her frame, until even her fingers hurt so bad that her pain-wracked CPU began to think that the best thing would be just to cut them all off. If they were gone, they wouldn't hurt so badly, her CPU reasoned. She would do __**anything**__ to relieve the pain._

_She immediately reached out to her bonded. He could help her remove her fingers..._

_...but, he was no longer there..._

…_and the pain increased as her spark cried out in agony. It felt like a smelting pool had replaced the spark in her chassis, burning her away from the inside out, her entire existence melting, drowning in the scathing hot substance. Her CPU registered that if she could just remove the spark that had become a smelting pool, then she would feel much better. _

_She reached out to her bonded again. He could help her remove her spark, and they could meet the relief that death would bring, together..._

_...but, he was no longer there..._

_...Death had already found him..._

_...and she only found more pain, as another wave pulsed from her spark, sending sharp currents of agony throughout her entire frame. The agony tried to make its escape through her vocal processors in the form of a scream._

_She wanted to scream. Her entire being was screaming. The only thing that kept her from doing so was her pride as a Decepticon. _

_She felt hands on her chassis, preparing herself for the relief she knew they could bring, but none came. Instead, they moved to her arms, flipping open panels until they were satisfied that they had found what they were looking for. _

_She struggled to unshutter her optics through the blinding pain. Her vision was blurred, but she could make out the form of a mech standing over her. He looked into her optics and spoke. _

_The first two things that she could process about him was that he, one, had blue optics, and, two, that his audios flashed light in tune with the sound of his voice. He continued speaking to her, his voice soft and soothing. Despite the crazy thoughts roaming through her CPU, her training kicked in as he fumbled around with the contents of the open panel that he had been looking for. She couldn't quite make out what all he was saying, but she heard "administering a sedative" painfully clearly. What rational thought she still possessed knew that he was making a mistake._

_She wanted to protest. She needed to protest, but she knew that if she were to try to speak the only thing that would come out was the scream that her spark was relaying through her frame._

_Instead, she jerked her arm out of his grasp, hoping he would get the message. This fool didn't know what he was doing. He was going about this all wrong._

_The mech grabbed a hold of her arm and she struggled to keep it away from him. Another mech joined him to hold her frame down, as she was able to rise up from the berth, pushing 'Audio Flash' away from her. _

_A third mech joined the struggle, grabbing her arm and jamming the sedative into the exposed energon line within the open panel that 'Audio Flash' had found before. She snarled at them as the sedative began taking affect. _

_She looked around her, catching the optics of each of them, all of their optics shining blue._

_She heard a scream. It was a long, mournful, painful wail, full of absolute sorrow and misery. At first, she thought that she had failed in her vigil not to allow her inner pain to escape. She thought the screaming was coming from her own vocal processors. It certainly mirrored her own agony._

_However, before she succumbed to the sedative, she realized that the scream was not coming from her, but from someone else; someone else who was suffering horribly, another femme._

_The last thought she had, before she finally went under, was that it had happened..._

_She had, indeed, gone to…_

…_The Pit…_

…_with all its agonizing torment…_

_...and it was full of Autobots._

8888


	23. The Realm of Believability

(posted May 31, 2008)

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 22.

Thank you cookies to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 22: **theshadowcat, flamingmarsh, ArmoredSoul, lady tecuma, blood shifter, Dragowolf, Bluebird Soaring, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Fae Child19, Phoenix13, thechickenlittle, Hearts of Eternity, MadameSoybean, Violetlight, plenoptic, Xerios, Lecidre, ****grlwdgrntrk, **and** Shizuka Taiyou. **

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: transflashbacks, daughterofBarricade**

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**CREDITS:** Thanks to **Violetlight **for giving me a reason why Decepticons would bond, since it is frowned upon in said faction in this continuality.

**THANK YOU:** I want to thank **Madame Soybean, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, Violetlight, flamingmarsh, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo** for all the support you have shown me through reviews, emails, and PM's, since the posting of the recent, hateful, flame I received for Ch. 10.

**RESPONSE:** To the reviewer who left said flame:

There is no cause for anyone to be so offensive. In the future, think of what you say to people. Never assume anything about anyone. The review process here is meant be one of critique and public praise for a person's work. Flat out telling someone how stupid you think they are is not going to help that person improve upon their works. They might take it personally, which I have, since it is directed at me.

Instead of saying, and I directly quote:

"_Rant on._

_This has got to be the stupidest chapter of any story I have ever read and that's saying a lot you wanted to "tug or our heart sting and make us feel emotion you epic failed.  
The only thing I wanted to do after reading this was grab a razor a slit my wrists all the while screaming "EMO EMO EMO" that's how stupid an idea this chapter was. You did not make Megatron and Decepticons seem evil or psychotic, just stupid so monumentally stupid I have no words to describe it.  
Suspension of disbelief only goes so far, you did not only break my Suspension of disbelief you smashed it in to little tiny peace and then on them. There was how many femmes and dissenting Decepticons there? There was how many Megatrons there?  
You assume that any one you believe this farce could on any way happen without one Decepticon there trying to stop it? I must say just what are you smoking? Was it good? It had better be, because that way it's up your head you should begetting something outta it.  
You try to wright veterans of a how many year long war as that stupid? This was not Shockwave or some other sycophant sneaking a nuke in or something. This is a slaughter of the ONLY breeding females of their species and the KNOW IT this is stupidity on a scale unbelievably, not to mention they would be killing off there Friends and fellow Decepticons in the process, all but killing there chances at defeating toe autobots. Think use your brain.  
Fear will only get you so far and your the suicide of your own species is not on that side of believably. Rant Off.  
In other words this "Madame Soybean" gave to massively bad advice, at least in my opinion."_

You could have said something like:

"_Rant on._

_This chapter transcends what I believe is on the side of believability. Though you were able to capture the emotion of your other readers, you were unable to capture mine. Suspension of disbelief only works to a point and I do not feel that Megatron and the Decepticons would kill off their own breeding femmes in such a manner. I also don't believe that the Decepticons would stand for such an occurrence, as it surely would include friends and even family. I believe that these characters are behaving in an unbelievable fashion. I would think that someone would have stepped in to stop Megatron. Fear will only get you so far, and the suicide of your own species is not on that side of believability. Rant off."_

That would have been more appropriate. You should leave out all that offensive stuff about what the author must be smoking and how monumentally stupid he/she must be. That wording is not productive at all. Also, you should check your spelling and sentence structure, as I had to read that rant several times to understand it.

Now, I feel compelled to remind you, this is fiction. Giant alien robots are not real, as fun as we think it would be if they were.

However, if you need reality in which to base this story, then I encourage you to look up Pol Pot, the Cambodian Genocide, The Khmer Rouge, The Killing Fields...The similarities of Pol Pot to Megatron, the Khmer Rouge to the Decepticons, The Killing Fields to Floatilla, The Vietnamese Army to the Autobots, and the Cambodian Genocide to the femme genocide are purely coincidental, however, disturbingly similar.

Pol Pot, in a mere 4 years, had 25 percent of **his **population, his very own people, mind you, killed by The Khmer Rouge. What he targeted is both shocking and, to quote you, so 'monumentally stupid' that it certainly transcends what isolated people believe is even possible, so "monumentally stupid that I have no words to describe it." However, it cannot transcend 'suspension of disbelief,' as it is a very real occurance. He targeted intellect, religion, and FAMILY. They killed whole families, including their children, so that he could restructure his society into what he thought would be the perfect society for his country. Entire cities were emptied of their populations.

"The Khmer Rouge killed people if they didn't like them, if they didn't work hard enough, if they were educated, if they came from different ethnic groups, or **if they showed sympathy **when their family members were taken away to be killed...It was a campaign based on instilling constant fear and keeping their victims off balance." (dithpran website)

Were there people who wanted to stop this? As you pointed out about Megatron, Pol Pot was but one man, stupidly having the future and intellect of his own population killed off. Of course there were people who wanted to stop it, as there were in 'Night Fire,' which you seemed to have missed a lot of. However, you have one thing very correct: fear is powerful. If anyone disagreed with Pol Pot, he simply had them killed. There was enough force on his side, albeit small, that allowed this to happen, as impossible as that might seem.

Have you been there? Have you seen it? Their skulls are stacked according to man, woman, and child. They haven't been buried or cremated because there is no family left that recognizes who they were, not to mention the shear number. There are thousands of them, estimated to be 2 million.

Now, having said all of that, I must agree with you, as this story is not realistic, because there is going to be a happy ending. However, for a quarter of the population of Cambodia, this would transcend the realm of believability, as there was no happy ending for them.

I must admit, I can see where such a young mind is coming from. If I were reading 'The Killing Fields' as if it were fiction, I'd probably tell the author that his Pol Pot character was too unreal, pushing the limits of my suspension of disbelief, further telling him that his story is not valid. If only it wasn't…

My mind is clear...crystal clear...

RANT OFF

**NOTE:** This chapter is a continued flashback following the last chapter... I also find it interesting that the above review/flame has been posted during this time, as this chapter has become somewhat related to that issue.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 23

The Realm of Believability

by Litahatchee

_Ironhide didn't make a sound as Ratchet operated on his left leg, with First Aid's assistance. He was lying on a med berth that wasn't completely reclined, so that he was half way in a sitting position._

_Ratchet had finally been able to convince Ironhide to let go of Chromia. Ironhide had been under the impression that Ratchet was going to move him to a separate room while he performed the surgeries on his injuries. Ratchet had no intentions of separating them, ever, no matter what. He needed their sparks to remain close. However, when he and First Aid moved Ironhide into a berth in front of Chromia's, Ironhide was thrown into a panic. _

_It took a moment for them to figure out what was wrong, but they finally figured it out. While lying flat on the berth, Ironhide could no longer see her, so his first reaction was to do whatever it took to be able to see her again. Realizing this, they reconfigured the berth to its current position. Ironhide's optics didn't leave her as he sat in silence through the preparations._

_Because he needed Ironhide's spark to be alert and to be holding on to Chromia's, Ratchet didn't sedate him. He tried injecting a local anesthetic to the knee joint, but he knew it wouldn't last. He needed to work quickly and he needed Ironhide to remain still. Any wrong moves and Ironhide could permanently lose the use of his leg. At first, it was working out just fine, as Ironhide remained perfectly still as he silently kept watch over her._

_Then, she woke up…_

_This was the second time she became conscious. During the first time, Ratchet and First Aid had been helping Wheeljack with the spark-shocked patients. Ironhide had held her until she cried herself into recharge._

_Now, Ironhide squirmed with each pain-filled sound she made. She groaned and cried out until Ratchet thought his own spark was going to break. He repeatedly had to tell Ironhide to be still. At one point, Ironhide shook so violently that he was forced to get First Aid to strap him down. First Aid didn't want Ironhide to feel trapped, so he left his arms free._

_Ratchet suspected Ironhide was succumbing to the effects of sparkshock. However, in contrast to Chromia, he wasn't making a sound. It was a little disconcerting. Still, he wasn't about to separate them for his own audio comfort, so he tuned her out as best as he could while he continued his work._

_Each scream was tearing Ironhide apart. He tried to sooth Chromia through their bond, but every time he reached out to her, his spark was reaching out to Sunshadow as well. Pain, unbearable pain, shot from his spark throughout his neural net and Chromia screamed louder. His spark could not separate the bond he had with Chromia and the bond he had with Sunshadow. Sunshadow was a part of both of them and, therefore, was a part of the bond he had with her. He could feel her reaching for him, too, but with the same results, only it was she who was still screaming while he remained silent._

_Ironhide reached over and placed a hand on Ratchet's. At first, Ratchet was irritated at the interruption: one wrong move and…_

"_Ratchet…" Ironhide spoke so softly that Ratchet had to look up at him to make sure he was speaking. "Help her."_

_Ratchet looked down to continue his work. Ironhide squeezed his hand harder, painfully even._

"_Please…" Ironhide begged softly. Ratchet could hear the pain in his voice._

_Ratchet wasn't sparkless. He wanted to do something for her, but he couldn't. He couldn't sedate her because her injuries were too great. If he sedated her now, some of her systems might react to the sedative and shut down permanently. Worse still, her spark casing had sustained enough trauma that her spark could extinguish if he injected a sedative._

_With this thought, Ratchet paused…_

_Her injuries…_

_Her spark…_

_He had been treating them as two separate things. He watched her a moment, and then he watched Ironhide. His pump literally stopped for an astrosecond as he realized what had probably been a fatal mistake for many of his patients._

_Ironhide wasn't screaming, because Chromia was screaming __**for **__him. Ratchet had thought that Chromia's pain was coming from the obvious, physical, injuries that she had sustained from Megatron. While he had no doubt that these injuries were painful, the absolute agony that she was voicing was coming from her and Ironhide's sparks…_

_It was coming from their sparks' injuries from the loss of their sparkling. Spark injuries and physical injuries should not have been treated as two separate things. _

_Ratchet knew what sparkshock was, of course. However, treating it as a severe injury, of a greater magnitude than what a spear through the midsection would cause, hadn't occurred to him. It was quickly sinking in that sparkshock was the most severe injury that a Cybertronian could be faced with._

"_Oh, Primus!" he suddenly yelled and First Aid jumped, fearing Ratchet had made a mistake on cutting the wire he had been working on, but Ratchet's hands remained steady. He looked at First Aid, "Comm Wheeljack. Tell him not to sedate any more of the sparkshock patients."_

_For the same reason he wasn't sedating Chromia, because her injuries were too severe and her systems, to include her spark, could react negatively with a sedative, he shouldn't be sedating any of the patients suffering from sparkshock, whether they had further physical injury or not. Ratchet thought of the Decepticon femme that Optimus had brought in. He had been the one to administer the sedative when she reacted so violently to Wheeljack trying to give it to her. It was as if she already knew the effects it could have on her…_

888888888888888

_If she lay perfectly still, the added pain caused by the sedative would subside a little. She had woken up a second time…_

_She wasn't sure if she was glad, or disappointed. The last thing she remembered was those idiots sedating her. One thing she knew for sure; she didn't want to be sedated again. _

_Remaining still had the added bonus of not drawing any more attention to herself. She idly wondered why she even cared; she would like to die as quickly as possible. However, if sedation wasn't going to kill her, then she certainly didn't want to deal with the added pain of her spark fighting against it to remain functional. As much as she would welcome death at this point, the program to survive was far too great. _

_Each individual was different and reacted in different ways but, for her, her spark would fight until the bitter end. It was one of the things Deluge had loved about her. It was one of the reasons he had wanted to be a part of her, despite the overall Decepticon ideal not to bind oneself to anyone. _

_Her spark lurched painfully at the mere thought of her sparkmate and she let it out with a curse, "Frag!"_

_She struggled to unshutter her optics and look around her to make sure no one heard her. The last thing she wanted was to give her Autobot tormentors a reason to come back. Her CPU couldn't process where she was, how she got there, and why she was surrounded by Autobots. Her pain was clouding her every thought._

_Then, she heard it again... _

_The screaming…_

_Another femme, suffering from sparkshock, voicing her pain as loud as her voice capacitor would allow her to. The Decepticon femme concentrated on the sound, the sharpness and pain of it bringing agonizing clarity to her most recent memories…_

_She remembered that someone was about to kill her, but that Deluge had stepped in. However, he wasn't fighting against the attacker, he was…_

_...pleading with him? What was he doing? Was he begging for her life? She hissed in disgust that Deluge would reduce himself to such an act._

_The next moment of clarity was that of…_

_...Prime. She could see him clearly in her memory. His was standing in the middle of the city, chaos erupting around him. The look on his face was one of…_

_...utter disbelief. She confidently strode right up to him, no one making a move to stop her, not even him. She knelt down before him and pledged what was left of her life to him while pressing his hand to her forehead…_

_**WHAT?!**__ She started violently._

_**She **__bowed down to the Autobot leader and pledged herself to __**him**__?! What was she thinking?!_

_Suddenly, it all came back to her at once, her pain increasing tenfold as she realized the awful truth. The Decepticons, her own beloved faction, whose ideals she upheld and supported, attacked Floatilla in full force, killing everyone and everything, no matter where their allegiances lay._

_Survival was a far deeper program than any other program, so she fought alongside the Autobots. There were two femmes, in particular, that she could see quite vividly in her memory. One of them lost a sparkling to Megatron, but she had been too caught up in her own grief to dwell on it at the time…_

_Wait…_

_Pause…_

_Rewind…_

_Replay…_

_Megatron…That's who her attacker was that Deluge was pleading with. Megatron had killed her sparkmate. _

_She convulsed as she refused to believe that that was even possible. As her CPU replayed the events, she saw that Megatron had systematically, personally, killed bonded Cybertronians, Autobot and Decepticon alike._

_Megatron had killed her sparkmate. _

_He had killed that sparkling, right in front of his femme creator. _

_She groaned in shear disbelief, as disbelieving as the look on the Prime's face had been. That her beloved Lord and leader was capable of such atrocities transcended all realms of what she was capable of believing._

_It was to be genocide, then. Megatron was going to remake Cybertronian society into his own image, but he had to be rid of the femme institution to do it. He had to be rid of bonded pairs, and the sparklings that depended on them. He had to be rid of the institution of what consisted of the entire family unit. That was why he went after the AllSpark next. He needed it to repopulate Cybertron in the way that he saw fit to populate it. There would no longer be any younglings from bonded pairs. They would all come from the AllSpark, never depending on such weaknesses as carrying and bonds that sparklings from bonded pairs needed. This was Megatron's idea of the perfect Cybertronian society._

_However, he had targeted all sparklings at Floatilla, even the AllSpark ones…_

_As she thought about that, she realized that he had done this because he felt that they were tainted with the ideals of their femme caretakers, not to mention the bonds they would have created with them. If Megatron's society was going to be perfect, he had to be rid of all of them. He had to be rid of all of the ones that came prior, before he implemented his plan, no matter where they came from. _

_If the Autobots had known of this plan, they would have done everything in their power to stop him. There were many Decepticons, bonded and unbonded alike, that she knew that would have tried to stop him as well. Unfortunately, there were also many Decepticons that she knew that would follow him anywhere, believe in anything he believed in, no matter what that was._

_Fear was a powerful ally, and he was the master at wielding it. But, she had believed in him. She had believed in him anyway, even admired him for it._

_An image of Deluge, her love, her sparkmate, presented itself prominently. Decepticons always had it in the back of their minds that they would die in battle, no matter who they were, no matter what their fu nction. They were all considered soldiers for the cause. This was one of the reasons bonding was frowned upon. Losing two soldiers with the loss of one was unacceptable. _

_There were still relationships, of course. There was even love. However, bonding, while it did occur often enough to warrant a Decepticon population on Floatilla, occurred less frequently in the Decepticon faction than it did in the Autobot faction._

_Both she and Deluge knew death could happen at any time, but neither one could bear the thought of living without the other. So, they bonded, accepting and welcoming the fact that one would die soon after the other._

_What she could not accept was the way he died. She always thought he would die fighting, valiantly and honorably against an Autobot, preferably one the caliber of Ironhide. She could accept that, even live what was left of her life content in knowing that. He had actually faced Ironhide, once. He nearly died then. She never met the Autobot, but because of that encounter with her sparkmate, she knew the name well. _

_However, her sparkmate dying while begging the Decepticon Lord, their leader, the one they believed in and admired, for her life was too much to bear._

_It all finally caught up with her: genocide of the family unit, her sparkmate's death, all done at the hands of the faction that she believed in. Her spark cried out in a spike of agony, and her vocal processors could no longer hold the sound of her pain within…_

"_**NNNNOOOOOOOO!"**_

8888

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**A/N:** I apologize to my regular readers for the above review/flame rant. The naivety of it was what really struck me. I just needed to get all of that out. Thank you for reading and I hope some of you will still want to review. However, I will no longer accept flames. I can accept if you don't like the chapter/story and have some constructive criticism, but if you are just going to run all over me, then please save your energy for something more productive. Thank you!

8888


	24. Nightfire

(posted June 7, 2008)

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 22.

Oh my goodness! I am overwhelmed by the **REVIEW** response for ch. 23. I cannot thank you all enough for your support and kind words: **LadyJet2, Bluebird Soaring, blood shifter, flamingmarsh, Misao-CG, Maraluch, Jadedfalcon, Kesera, ArmoredSoul, Karategal, Dragowolf, Darth Stitch, Chloo, AncientHistory, Fae Child19, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Blume, thechickenlittle, plenoptic, Hearts of Eternity, MadameSoybean, ferretsareillegal, Phoenix13, Xerios, lady tecuma, Lecidre, grlwdgrntrk, ****Faecat, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.** I absolutely loved reading each and every one of them! THANK YOU *smile*

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Story Alert]: Darth Stitch, AncientHistory, kool246**

**[Favorite Author]: Chloo**

**[Author Alert]: Kesera, AncientHistory**

**CREDITS:** Special thanks goes to **Phoenix13** for the use of magnetic pulses. I first ran across this idea in her stories, as it is used for pleasure in that context. **lady tecuma**, after my much needed use of something that could treat her idea of sparkshock, gave me the idea that, perhaps, mag pulses could be used as a medical procedure. After a bit of research, I discovered that there really is such a thing called, "Magnetic Pulse Therapy." Entranced, I just had to apply this to 'Night Fire.' Thanks to you ladies for making this possible.

**THANK YOU:** HUGE, HUGE thank you goes out to **Hearts of Eternity** for her time in helping me with this revised chapter. You are absolutely the greatest.

**NOTE: **I do believe someone asked me awhile back if 'Deluge' was an OC. Actually, he is not. He is a Decepticon from Generation 2, series 2. His function is: Scientific Adviser. He's actually a pretty horrific character. His bio stats state:

"'Let me study the battle plans. I'll think of something really unpleasant—and then make them even nastier.' With a twisted mind, he devises hideous attack methods that can astonish even veteran Decepticons!"

Don't ask why the Decepticon femme would be attracted to him…She just was. She's a 'Con; maybe she appreciates his cunning. Plus he's a scientist, which suits her since she is also. Plus, I really liked his name *smile*. What is important is that the Decepticon femme loved him.

_Italics _are flashbacks. This entire chapter is a flashback. _**Italics in bold**_** between 7777777777** indicate a flashback within the flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 24

Nightfire

By Litahatchee

_Upon hearing the Decepticon femme's outcry, Wheeljack was by her side in an instant, readying another sedative._

_She flung her optics open to see that her tormentor, Audio Flash, was returning with another dose of pain. As soon as he got to her side, she yelled, "Get away from me with that!" She managed to kick his hand with the sedative out of the way._

_At that exact moment, Wheeljack got the call from First Aid to cease sedating sparkshock patients._ _The femme sat up painfully, clutching her chassis over her spark. He moved towards her again. _

_"Don't touch me!" she snapped._

_He just stood there, looking at her in confusion. If he wasn't supposed to sedate her, what was he supposed to do for her? She was obviously hurting._

_She stared back at him, somewhat amused by his confused look. She certainly didn't have anything to lose by finding amusement in her tormentors._

_"It speaks," she voiced what surely seemed to her to be the thoughts going through his processor. If she weren't in so much pain, she might have laughed. His confusion only increased._

_"Don't you have duties to attend to, Audio Flash?" she asked as he continued to stare at her._

_Audio Flash? He finally cleared his processor and realized she was referring to him, saying, "Oh, my name is Wheeljack. My primary function is 'Science Officer.' My secondary function is 'Medic.'" He regarded her a moment. For the amount of pain she was in, she was hiding it well. "And you are...?" _

_"You're a scientist?" She ignored his question. She didn't want him bastardizing her name by his shear utterance of it. At this point, she considered him a complete imbecile. "What am I, some sort of experiment?" she continued._

_He blinked at her question. An experiment?! Who did she think he was? Shockwave? _

_She watched him as he mulled over what she had just said. She wasn't too worried, though. She knew Autobot scientists weren't prone to such acts. It wasn't the Autobot way._

_"While you wrap your processor around that, tell me, where am I?" she asked next._

_Glad to change the subject, he answered, "You're in the Autobot Regional Medical Center of Iacon."_

_"Iacon? How did I get here?" she wondered._

_"Optimus brought you here," he answered._

_"Optimus?" She paused, not quite sure how to take the relative informality with which he referred to his leader. Perhaps he was referring to someone else..."Prime?" she questioned._

_"Well, there's only one Optimus I know, and he's Prime," the mech who called himself 'Wheeljack' answered._

_"Don't talk down to me," she growled. All these fragging Autobots were all alike; arrogant and full of themselves._

_He blinked at her again, "I wasn't. I..."_

_"Am I your prisoner?" she interrupted._

_He shook his head as the confusion on his face finally faded, "No."_

_She looked over him suspiciously. Other than his look of confusion, he was hard to read. He was deceiving her somehow; he had to be..._

_A painful groan sounded from a nearby berth. Both of their heads snapped towards the direction of the sound. A mech that she hadn't realized was in the room with her, a bonded mech, she noted, was coming online. _

_'Great,' she thought to herself sarcastically. He was clearly suffering from sparkshock. _

_Here she was, stuck on Iacon, surrounded by Autobots, and now with a roommate that was probably going to start screaming at any moment. She was in enough pain already; she didn't want to have to deal with this mech screaming in her audios, making __**them**__ hurt too. _

_She stood up from the berth and started towards the patient. Wheeljack placed a halting hand on her shoulder, plainly uncertain as to what she was going to do._

_"I know what I'm doing," she said as she shrugged him off. "Has he been sedated?" she asked as she approached the mech's berth._

_"No," Wheeljack answered somewhat hesitantly. "He has been unconscious since he arrived here."_

_"Good," she commented. She didn't care how soon the mech died, but she didn't want any sedative impeding her efforts to keep him quiet._

_Wheeljack decided to put some trust in her as she laid her left hand on the mech's chassis. The mech turned his optics towards her and started when he realized she was a Decepticon._ _Her hand remained firmly on his chassis. _

_"Be still, you idiot. I'm not going to hurt you," she said to him._

_The mech hadn't quite come fully online, so she worked quickly to keep him in a relaxed state._

_Wheeljack watched as both her hands moved over the mech's shoulders and then across his chassis. The mech's initial alarm quickly faded as she did so. Was she using magnetic pulses? _

_Her left hand came to rest on the mech's chassis directly over his spark as her right hand continued to move over his shoulders. She then leaned down real close as she moved her right hand under his back, placing it directly behind his spark. His spark now lay between her hands. Suddenly, he let out a long, relieved, gasping sigh. It sounded like a gasket under pressure that suddenly found release before bursting. _

_"Thank you," the mech whispered as she stood up. _

_Caring nothing for his gratitude, she didn't respond. At least he wouldn't start screaming in her audios anytime soon._

_Wheeljack knew magnetic pulses, or mag pulses, had a pleasurable application, but he hadn't thought of them as having a medical use. Perhaps, they were only considered pleasurable to a healthy spark. Otherwise, he suddenly realized, he could see how they could be quite therapeutic. _

_The same principle that mag pulses could be used to dissipate ions in order to induce pleasure could also be used to relieve pain. Pain was considered to be the abundance of positively charged ions gathering in one place. A magnetic pulse would disperse these positive ions evenly throughout the pained region, thus restoring balance between the positive and negative ions of the atomic structure, resulting in near instant relief. It would not be a cure in the case of sparkshock, as the cause of the pain would always be there, but, when applied regularly, it would be a relief for that pain._

_'Magnetic Pulse Therapy,' Wheeljack marveled to himself._

_The Decepticon femme picked up another sound, one she was starting to recognize all too well. She realized that it was that same femme and that her screaming hadn't stopped this entire time. The screaming was becoming hoarser, but not less intense. Her voice capacitor was giving out..._

_"Primus, is someone going to do something about that?!" she asked, exasperated._ _Without giving Wheeljack any time to answer, she quickly followed that with, "Am I free to move about the med bay?"_

_"Well, yes...as far as I know. You are not a prisoner."_

_She looked over him suspiciously again as she walked past him, but he did not stop her as she walked out the door. Instead, he followed her. _

---

_The Decepticon femme followed the sound to a scene that both shocked and appalled her. No less than two medics had their full attention focused on the knee of a very large, very quiet, very calm looking black mech. Meanwhile, there was a light blue-grey femme screaming her spark out right next to them. No aid was being rendered to her. _

_'How can they sit through all that racket?' the Decepticon femme thought to herself, wincing as the sound pierced her audios._

_"What is going on here?!" she demanded incredulously._

_Both the medics and the black mech looked up at her. Any and all calm demeanor that the black mech seemed to have possessed completely snapped._

_"DECEPTICON!" he bellowed. _

_One massive cannon rolled out of each of his forearms. Somehow, that was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. _

_As intimidating as this black mech was, she was unaffected by this blatant threat. She knew how medical procedures worked. All weapons were rendered offline throughout operational procedures, assuming these fraggers weren't so incompetent that they would neglect that step..._

_"That mech's injuries look like they can wait," she continued, confident the rather large mech couldn't shoot her. "This femme requires your immediate attention!"_

_The smaller of the two medics jumped up and tried to restrain the black mech's arms while the larger medic worked quickly to shore up the exposed energon lines of the black mech's knee, the medic's cursing becoming louder and louder as the injured mech struggled. It was a good thing he was strapped to the berth. The Decepticon femme was sure that he would have come at her with his bare hands._

_"Stop moving around, you fragger!" the larger medic cursed. "Calm down! She is unarmed!"_

_She didn't give the mechs a second glance as she took a step towards the screaming blue femme. "What kind of medical bay is this?!"_

_The large, black, injured mech raised his voice an octave, if that was even possible, "Stay away from her!"_

_The larger of the two medics caught a glimpse of the mech that had followed the Decepticon into the room. "Wheeljack! Get her out of here!"_

_Wheeljack started to tell him that this femme could help, when she quickly closed the distance between herself and the other femme._

_"Touch her and I'll kill you!" The black mech was screaming now, struggling harder against his restraints. The larger medic jumped up to help the smaller one hold him down._

_"WHEELJACK!" the larger medic implored as his patient was surely going to break free and kill this femme right then and there if Wheeljack didn't get her out. _

_"Who is in charge here?!" the Decepticon femme demanded. _

_When she finally got to the femme's side, she recognized her immediately as one of the Autobot femmes she fought beside during the siege. _

_"Come on, femme. Control it!" she commanded as she leaned down over the screaming femme and examined her optics, which were dim and dull._

_The black mech growled something unintelligible, even more intensely threatening than before. The two medics had to triple their efforts, even after Wheeljack had jumped in to help. The Decepticon femme ignored the whole commotion._

_Her spark leapt as she suddenly realized that this was also the femme whose sparkling had been killed by Megatron. She might have been a Decepticon, but she wasn't sparkless. Even Decepticons valued younglings. She had always wanted a sparkling herself. If she had lost one the way this femme had lost hers, she wouldn't have wanted to live this long. Innocence was where she drew the line. This femme was probably far from innocent, but the sparkling was the one that was dead. _

_'Megatron did this,' she thought to herself, again in disbelief. He obviously hadn't drawn any lines. It both angered and saddened her. She suddenly felt a camaraderie with this Aubobot femme. She genuinely felt pity for her. She decided to take a more gentle approach. _

_Taking the light blue femme's face in her hands, she leaned down to speak to her. "I know this is going to be hard, but I need you to try and relax," she spoke softly._

_The light blue femme squirmed uncontrollably in pain as she tried to focus on the Cybertronian who was holding her face. Dull, blue optics focused on scarlet red ones. _

_The blue orbs widened in recognition. "It's you..." she managed to say._

**777777777777777**

_**A Decepticon femme joined their little group as they gathered more unprotected younglings in the chaos, betrayal and fear written all over her face. **_

"_**If we get out of this alive," she said to them, "I swear to Primus I'm going to join the Autobots." **_

_**Chromia gave her a pained smile. If they got out of this alive, she could tell that she was going to like this femme.**_

...

_**Megatron grabbed another Decepticon femme next. Both Elita and Chromia recognized her as the one who had helped them. As Megatron lifted her up, a Decepticon stepped out of his ranks, falling to his knees before Megatron, begging him to spare her. Megatron looked on him with disgust...**_

_**Without hesitation, Megatron pulled the Decepticon to his feet and plunged his clawed hand into his chest… **_

_**He let the femme go; allowing her to cradle her dead bonded's head in her hands. She would be dead soon enough**__._

**777777777777777**

_"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" the black mech bellowed so loudly the room shook._

_The Decepticon femme stood up suddenly and fully. "Shut him up!" she yelled irritably._

_The two medics and Wheeljack finally managed to fully restrain the black mech's arms and tighten down the chest, hip, and leg restraints. After that, the larger of the two medics whirled on her. Having not taken a good look at him before, she now recognized him as the one who had given her the sedative earlier._

_"Who do you think you are?!" he hollered. "This is MY med bay! You can't just come in here and..."_

_"I don't care if this is Hook's med bay!" she interrupted him just as vehemently._

_"HOOK?!" the Autobot medic yelled incredulously._

_"You should NEVER sedate sparkshock patients!...And this femme needs help right NOW! You clearly lack the expertise and the competence to treat sparkshock!" she continued._

_"How dare you compare me to that mal-practicing slag heap!" the medic went on._

_Ignoring him, the Decepticon femme placed her left hand on the other femme's chassis._

_"Don't touch her!" the black mech went on. Several grinding noises came from his joints as he continued to try and free himself._

_The Decepticon leaned down. "I've got to get real close," she said to the blue femme. "I'm not going to hurt you."_

_"That hardly matters now," the blue femme whispered as she groaned in pain. _

_"Try and relax," the Decepticon femme said to the other femme as soothingly as she could when her life was being threatened and surrounded by incompetent fools. "Shut him up!" she repeated to the medics as the black mech continued to threaten. _

_There was no way that she was going to be able to get this femme to relax in this environment. She sent a few mag pulses across the femme's shoulders anyway, hoping to get her to relax as best as possible when dealing with all the commotion around them._

_"Just relax," she said again as she placed her left hand on the femme's chassis over her spark and then leaned down to place her right on the femme's back, directly behind the spark. _

_She accidentally brushed a very large gaping wound there and the femme cried out. Alarm shot through the Decepticon's spark. Frag, this femme was in bad shape... She might not have been the one that was dead, but it sure wasn't from Megatron's lack of trying._

_The larger medic started to move towards her, but Wheeljack stopped him, "Wait, give her a chance. She knows what she's doing."_

_At the same moment, the large black mech became ballistic. "You are DEAD!" One of his arms suddenly broke free of one of his restraints and the smaller of the two medics jumped on him._

_Cursing herself for not scanning for further injuries that this femme had suffered, the Decepticon waited for a few moments before proceeding, allowing the femme's new pain to subside. Careful not to touch the wound again, she placed her hand higher on the femme's back, but still positioned so that it was behind the spark._

_"I am going to kill you!" the black mech continued._

_As the smaller medic had been able to restrain the arm again, the black mech broke free of another restraint. Looking imploringly at the larger medic and Wheeljack, he jumped on the newly freed appendage._

_"Um, a little help here, please?" he pleaded as the larger black mech effortlessly pushed him off. _

_By this point, the Decepticon femme had the full attention of the larger medic and the one that called himself 'Wheeljack.'_

_There was no way she would be able to get the femme to relax, so she sent a magnetic pulse between her hands anyway. The femme cried out again, as the treatment was painful when not fully relaxed, though the results were still the same. Once the pain from the mag pulse subsided, she would feel immediate relief in her spark._

_The larger medic scanned her after the first mag pulse was given. "Huh, didn't know about that," he admitted when he detected that her pain had subsided. Her pained groans and screaming stopped immediately._

_"You're dead!" the black mech continued yelling, his anger fed by the femme's outcries, oblivious to the fact that she was now quiet._

_Even though the relief from the first pulse was small, it was still relief, and enough for a coherent thought to form in the blue femme's CPU. "Ironhide, please! For the love of Primus, be quiet!" _

_The black mech grew quiet almost instantly, worry evident in his optics as he watched her. The smaller medic slid down to the floor beside his berth in exhaustion. For what they did to the black mech's family, the Decepticons had unleashed a fury that could never be satiated. The smaller medic almost felt sorry for them...almost._

_Complete and utter surprise crossed over the Decepticon's features. Ironhide?! THE Ironhide? Her head snapped up to look at him more closely..._

_The cannons..._

_Of course! _

_Now that no one was restricting her view of him, she could see that his bonded mark was from the same femme she was currently helping. She looked down at the blue femme...That would mean that this was..._

_"Chromia," she whispered._

_The blue femme's head turned towards her in response to hearing her name._

_This was Ironhide and Chromia. They were at the top of the Decepticon 'Most Wanted' list. Megatron had wanted them dead or alive for vorns. They were highly successful against her faction. Indeed, this was not an innocent femme. She and her mate were virtually unstoppable warriors. _

_Anger overwhelmed the Decepticon femme as she thought of the Decepticon sparklings that she had treated for the loss of their creators because of these two. She almost lost her own sparkmate because of Ironhide. They were considered worthy opponents, but she had hoped that they would be hunted down..._

_Again, she thought about the sparkling that Megatron killed right in front of Chromia..._

_Ironhide's sparkling..._

_Megatron may not have killed them, but he found their weakness. He had dealt them a huge, crippling, blow. As much as she would have liked for them to be crippled, she never would have wished for it to happen this way, no matter what they were purported to have done against the Decepticons. When it came to the innocent, she drew the line. _

_Her anger subsided as she thought about all the Autobot sparklings she had treated for sparkshock as well. There were just as many of them. The pendulum swung both ways. Her time at Floatilla, the only place where both factions could find tolerance for each other, had taught her that. War was a terrible thing for the innocents. It needed to be stopped..._

_Her processor suddenly gained a sharp sense of purpose. She thought of Prime. Even though she still couldn't believe that she had done it, she thought, 'I pledged my life to that fragger...fine.' _

_Optimus Prime was the only one who could stop Megatron, and she knew it. Lord Megatron was a fool if he truly believed spark bonds were a weakness. He and Optimus Prime were equal in power, but because Prime had a sparkmate, Prime was actually stronger. She had to be certain that Prime found his sparkmate. If his sparkmate died, then Megatron would win the war and there would be no one who could stop his plans. _

_She didn't care where younglings came from; Autobot, Decepticon, Neutral, or AllSpark; no innocent should have to live in fear. As much as she despised Autobots, she knew the Autobot faction would do all it could to ensure that. However, Prime was essential. He was no good to any of them dead. He was also going to need his best warriors._

_She leaned down and gave Chromia another magnetic pulse. Since Ironhide was more calm, so was Chromia, and this one did not hurt her as badly._

_Ironhide observed and felt through their bond that the mag pulses were working, that Chromia was doing better. Despite this fact, he said to the Decepticon, "This changes nothing. I am going to kill all of you."_

_The Decepticon femme wasn't sure which was more disconcerting: Ironhide's frenzied threats, or his more calm and calculating ones, such as that one._ _As soon as this mech was able, she was certain he was going to unleash unholy vengeance upon the Decepticons. The thought of revenge warmed her spark, however. She almost lost her sparkmate to Ironhide, but she __**had **__lost her sparkmate to Megatron. There was no 'almost' about that._

_"He's going to need this too," she said to the larger medic, who appeared to be the one in charge, such as it was. _

_She nodded towards Ironhide. She needed both sparkmates' sparks to be fully aware._

_Seeing how well it was working, the larger medic complied without question._

_"Don't use that Decepticon slag on me," Ironhide growled. _

_Since it was making Chromia feel better, he was okay with it being performed on her, but he didn't want to have anything to do with it for himself. He didn't want to have anything to do with any Decepticon._

_"Calm down, Ironhide. I know what she's doing," the medic said, wondering how he hadn't thought of it before. Magnetic pulses...of course!_

_"Touch me and I will knock you down!" Ironhide yelled at him._

_Ignoring him, the medic asked the 'Con, "What should I calibrate it at?"_

_"I'm serious!" Ironhide continued. "Don't do it!"_

_"Give him a big one to get his attention," she replied while applying another pulse to Chromia's spark. _

_Chromia shuttered her optics, allowing the soothing sensations to encompass her troubled spark completely. She tried to reach out to Ironhide, but he wasn't having it._

_"Don't touch me!" Ironhide yelled as the larger medic laid both of his hands on the mech's chassis and practically pushed him with a very large magnetic pulse. _

_Both Ironhide and Chromia yelped loudly before Ironhide went completely silent._

_The Decepticon femme looked over at a guilty-looking medic. Her optics then tracked to the patient..._

_"I said to get his attention, not render him unconscious!" she spat. _

_The medic harrumphed and crossed his arms, "Well, he's quiet, isn't he."_

_Her mouthplates twitched as a small, sardonic smile tried to make its escape. Perhaps there was more to this medic than she realized..._

_She turned her attention back to Chromia, scanning her injuries and the repairs of them._

_...or, perhaps not. That fragging weld to her spark casing was going to cause her problems._

_Now it was Chromia who couldn't keep her optics off of Ironhide. _

_"Look at me," the Decepticon said to her. "He's fine. Your fragging Autobot medic screwed up."_

_The medic harrumphed again._

_She gave Chromia another magnetic pulse, her own spark screaming for the treatment as well, which she tried to ignore for the moment._

_"This won't mean much to you right now," she said to Chromia. "But I'm going to see to it that you get through this. This is going to make you stronger."_

_Not at all comforted by her words, Chromia turned away._

_The Decepticon femme stood up and, after a few moments, started to walk away. Chromia reached out and grasped her hand._

_"Wait," her voice cracked. "What is your name?"_

_Clasping Chromia's hand in return, the Decepticon femme turned back to her. _

_"Nightfire," she smiled slightly. "My name is Nightfire."_

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Thanks to **lady tecuma **for allowing me to use the name, "Nightfire." Sole license and copyright of the name belongs to her. However, the Decepticon femme characterization belongs to me.

Okay, so this chapter is from the Decepticon femme's, or Nightfire's, point of view, so that is why names were not included until she learns them herself. So, if you haven't figured it out, the 'larger medic' is Ratchet and the 'smaller medic' is First Aid.

I know some of you are die-hard Autobot fans and don't really like the part where she finds out about this being Ironhide and Chromia and her thoughts on the sparklings that had suffered because of them. However, I think we are deluding ourselves if we think that the 'bad guys' don't have innocents and that the 'good guys' never harm innocents. Now, I am not saying that Ironhide and Chromia purposefully target Decepticon children. But, I don't think they would stop a Decepticon during the heat of battle to ask if he/she has any children.

I changed and reposted chapters 24 and 25. Thanks to **Bluebird Soaring **and **Hearts of Eternity (Thorn Queen)**, whose reviews helped me to realize my errors with the initial chapters. It was also pointed out to me how over the top Ironhide is in this chapter. Yea, he's pretty crazy here, but he just lost his sparkling. I figure he'd be pretty pissed off, uncontrollably so, upon seeing any Decepticon. I also tried to make his commentary less cliche, but a lot of that really couldn't be helped.

Reviews really do help me sort things out. I appreciate constructive criticism and use that to try and improve upon certain aspects of the story. I can't please everybody, of course, but I do try to. If anyone wants to make any more suggestions, I am open to that. Just remember: constructive criticism, not destructive criticism. Thanks *smile*.

Please don't be slighted if I don't use your suggestion, however. I recently got a reviewer who said she stopped reading because of the skill I denied Ironhide in ch. 16; the 'peg in the hole' scene, the one where Ironhide just blew a hole in the wall and chucked the shape in. I swear I wanted to make that right, but that is one of Ironhide and Bumblebee's best moments, so I won't be changing that. If you think about it, though, there are games that children play that pertain to everyday life that we have the ability to understand when it is applying to us. However, when a child suddenly thrusts a game out for you to play with them, you might suddenly find yourself at a loss as to how to do it. You tend to lose all understanding due to its simplicity.

Also, I want to remind everyone that I am an amateur. I think I'm allowed to screw up every now and then. Hey, I'm trying to make the story better for **you. **Besides, "Return of the Jedi" was originally called, "Revenge of the Jedi." They even had movie posters and everything made out for it and the reel was all ready to go. Then, someone pointed out that 'revenge' was not a characteristic that the Jedi would possess. So, George Lucas, seeing as they were right, revamped the entire thing. If someone as big as George Lucas can screw up on something as big as Star Wars, I think little 'ol me ought to be allowed to do it too.

Thank you *smile*

8888


	25. Misconceptions and Misunderstandings

(posted June 21, 2008)

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 22.

Thanks a million to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 24: **Dragowolf **(for reviewing first and second version)**, blood shifter, flamingmarsh, Bluebird Soaring, mou, lady tecuma, jadedfalcon, ArmoredSoul, thechickenlittle, MadameSoybean, ferretsareillegal, Blume, Hearts of Eternity **(for reviewing first and second version)**, theshadowcat, Kesera **(for reviewing first and second version), **Violetlight **(revised version), **plenoptic, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Phoenix13, Xerios, Lecidre, grlwdgrntrk, **and **Shizuka Taiyou. **Thanks to those of you for reviewing both versions and keeping me on track.

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: Xerios, AutobotStarlight**

**[Story Alert]: Kara Crane, Hearts of Eternity**

**[Favorite Author]: Xerios, Hearts of Eternity**

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**CREDITS:** The name 'Nightfire' belongs to **lady tecuma **from her fic **"Sparks and Plasma." **She has graciously allowed me to use the name for my purposes in this fic. The Decepticon femme character with that name, however, is mine.

**THANK YOU:** HUGE thank you to **Hearts of Eternity** for helping me with the interactions and dialogue in this chapter. Your help and suggestions have been invaluable. You have been wonderful!

**EDITS for chapter 25: **I didn't have any complaints about this chapter and the reviews were great. I just felt I needed to make the techno babble less confusing. That was quite a challenge. It may not be any easier to understand, but if you read it a few times, it ought to make more sense...LOL! Just skip it if it's too daunting. I have it there for a reason. You can just skip it and go straight to the dialogue that follows if you want. Perhaps, later, when the reason is known, then you can come back and read it.

I also tried to clear a few things up within the text and dialogue about Ratchet. Again, not due to any complaints from you guys, but I was just concerned that I had him looking like he is too behind on medical practices. However, I have been trying to set that up over the last few chapters; the fact that he knows very little about how to treat sparkshock, etc., is because he is a battlefield doctor, etc. Things like missing ports that a bot can live without are normally of less concern to him than missing arms and legs and parts a bot can't do without. But a medic from Floatilla, who deals with sparklings and femmes day in and day out, would know more about that, which is why Nightfire does know. I would think that if Nightfire were thrown a bot with a battlefield injury, then she wouldn't necessarily know how to deal with that. It simply isn't her specialty, just as sparkshock isn't Ratchet's. I think Ratchet is brilliant, and I'll show that more later.

At any rate, I certainly tried, so I hope you like it (smiles again).

I want to thank **Kesera **for her wording suggestions. I have definitely taken her up on her recommendations of making some wording a bit more clear, so have edited them in. Thank you so much! Also, she has perfectly clarified what I am trying to say about why Ratchet looks like he's behind...He's not behind at all: He's a trauma surgeon, not a family practitioner. Nightfire could best be described as a family practitioner.

Normal text is the present_. Italicised_ text are flashbacks or memory reviews.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 25

Misunderstandings and Misconceptions

by Litahatchee

Chromia felt...disoriented.

Her CPU was running memory reviews, but they were strange somehow. They were memories that she was a part of, but she felt like she was outside of herself. It was as if they weren't her memories at all, but someone else's. They might have been Ratchet's, but the majority of them seemed to be coming from...

_"Nightfire...My name is Nightfire."_

Chromia jerked her optics open to find that someone was connected to her CPU port. At that moment of realization, another memory review that wasn't hers ran through her mind...

---

_Nightfire had quickly discovered that Audio Flash, the one that called himself 'Wheeljack,' had not been deceiving her when he said she wasn't a prisoner. She was, indeed, free to move about the med bay. She really didn't have anywhere else to go, so she hadn't even tried to move beyond that. If she ever did, she figured she would find out, then, how 'free' she truly was._

_Nightfire walked into the recovery room once the larger medic had gotten Ironhide and Chromia to join again. It was becoming increasingly difficult to get them to do so, as the pair were fighting it, probably due to their guilt and the fact that they couldn't face what had happened to them yet. She certainly couldn't blame them, but she knew that it was extremely important at this point in their recovery. She also knew the Autobot medic was having trouble getting enough energy transferred to Chromia to aid in her recovery. He was using spark-merging to get as much energy transfer as possible between the two, which, at least, he was getting that part right. _

_However, Chromia needed more than just that balance. So, the Autobot medic was trying to get more energy to her by channeling the energy that would result from Ironhide's overload during the spark-merge. It wasn't working as well as it should have been, so Nightfire came to see if she could figure out why. Of course, the best way to transfer energy was through the interface port. The fact that Chromia was missing hers was making it an extra challenge. _

_She leaned over the medic to get a better look. The one that called himself 'Wheeljack' was there too. The medic was connecting Chromia's CPU wrist cable to Ironhide's interface on his frame. She could see the problem immediately. _

_With the connection the medic was making, he was trying to get the energy from Ironhide's overload transferred to Chromia through her CPU cable. However, it was extremely difficult for a Cybertronian to receive energy through a cable. It wasn't entirely impossible, but it was damn well near it._

_The best way to transfer energy was from a cable to a port, the absolute best way being through interfacing. She figured the medic already knew that, as it was fairly common knowledge among medics. However, since Chromia no longer had an interfacing port and overloads were typically transferred through interfacing through the frame connections, Nightfire knew what this medic was thinking. Overloads were not transferred through the CPU port. CPU ports were not designed for that. _

_However, medics gave energy transfusions through CPU ports on a regular basis. The energy wasn't as concentrated as the energy that could be transferred through the interface, but medics did it all the time, since interfacing could be considered too intimate. Only as a last measure did they resort to interfacing. Usually the energy that could get through a CPU port was enough. _

_She idly wondered why the medic wasn't just doing it himself. Chromia would gain the balance she needed through joining with her sparkmate. The medic could then give her the extra boost she needed by giving her an energy transfusion through her CPU port. Maybe he was just being an Autobot and was being concerned for their 'feelings.' She made a noise in disgust. He turned and looked at her incredulously. She glared back._

_Of course, if he could acquire some connection in order to transfer the concentrated energy from the overload of a spark merge, then that would be better. It was certainly worth a try, she conceded._

_Energy was energy; even though transferring it through the interface port was better, it could still be transferred through the CPU. It was always transferred from a cable to a port, whether that be from the CPU wrist cable to the CPU port or from the interfacing cable to the interfacing port. Even though energy from the overload caused by a spark merge was super concentrated, it had to be the same thing on some level, she reasoned. Probably not as much energy could get through the CPU port, but it was still a port._

_"You've got this connection backwards," she said, finally. _

_The medic gave her a sidelong glance before turning back to his work, making no move to ask how this was so. Despite the fact that this femme knew how to treat sparkshock, he wasn't sure how much he could trust the Decepticon. It didn't help matters that he was becoming increasingly frustrated with himself for not figuring these problems out on his own. He hadn't become the Autobot CMO for nothing. _

_Undaunted, Nightfire continued, "The energy from his overload can best be transferred to her this way." She pointed at Chromia's CPU port. _

_"That's not the same thing," he said, gruffly, without giving her another look._

_"Sure it is," Nightfire responded. "Energy transfusions can be given through the CPU port, so at least __**some**__ of the energy he expends from his overload can be channeled through that port, wouldn't you think?"_

_"I think this should work better," the Autobot medic said, stubbornly keeping the connection the same. He refused to be upstaged by some Decepticon medic that he didn't even know. _

_Nightfire shook her head, "No...He recovers from the merge before she does, doesn't he?" _

_The Autobot medic didn't respond, but she knew the answer already; Ironhide was recovering first. _

_"That's the problem," she continued, taking his silence as an admission. "She isn't getting the maximum amount of energy from his overload. If he's waking up first, it either means they are overloading at the same time or she is overloading first. He's benefiting from her more than she is from him." _

_Sure, this was still helping Chromia through the balance of energon they were getting through their merged sparks, but she needed more if this medic expected her frame to recover more quickly. _

_"She should be waking up before him," Nightfire continued. "It would be best if she doesn't overload at all, so that she doesn't expend any of the energy she already has. He needs to overload first. Since she no longer has an interfacing port, the energy from that can best be transferred from his CPU cable through her CPU port." _

_Nightfire paused, but the medic said nothing. She continued, thinking that, perhaps, she ought to simplify things for this bit-brain Autobot, "Cables transfer energy, ports receive it."_

_The medic simmered. "I KNOW that! A youngling would know that!" He didn't need to be told the basics. He was simply improvising the best he could. _

_Nightfire pointed to the current configuration Ratchet had them in. "Getting his energy through that cable in her wrist to her frame is almost impossible." _

_'In theory, I could connect Ironhide's interface cable to Chromia's CPU port. THAT would be a weird surprise for them,' the medic thought to himself as a retort. _

_He almost said that out loud, but had the presence of mind to keep it to himself. Knowing this femme, she'd probably say that he should do that. The whole idea seemed a little too perverse for his liking, even though he was the one that thought it up._

_Oblivious to Ratchet's thoughts, Wheeljack nodded his head in response to Nightfire's last statement, "She does have a point there."_

_"Get out, both of you," the Autobot medic said, wanting nothing more than to be left alone with this._

_"Suit yourself," Nightfire said._

_She and Wheeljack were almost out the door before she turned around, "Oh, and Autobot Medic..."_

_"I have a name, you know," the medic interrupted her._

_"Oh yea?" she replied sarcastically. "Then what is it?"_

_"My designation is 'Ratchet.'"_

_"Ohhh, so __**you're**__ Ratchet."_

_Ratchet glared at her. The way she said that...She was less than impressed. She even looked bored. _

_She harrumphed, "Someone with your reputation...I would have expected a bit...more."_

_"Say what you are going to say and get out of here," Ratchet's replied curtly._

_"Well, __**Ratchet**__," she stressed his name for emphasis. "You might want to avoid that configuration in the future," she commented about his current connection. "You also might want to disconnect her wrist cable from his interfacing port before you try something else?" She inflected her voice as if that was a question, but Ratchet knew it was really a statement. _

_Then, she actually winked at him, "Who knows what could happen."_

_Ratchet stared at her in confusion as she left the room, the mirror effect of the shiny black overlays of her armor giving the illusion that she was gone before she really was. The femme had lost her mind, he decided. He figured that losing a sparkmate could do that to someone, which was another reason he shouldn't listen to her._

_He reached down and disconnected Chromia's wrist cable from Ironhide's interfacing port. _

_'She is a Decepticon,' he thought to himself, as he continued to make the connections necessary to test her suggestion, '...that isn't of a sound mind.' _

_He seemed to be trying to talk himself out of trying this, but he didn't have anything to lose, and what she said did make sense. However, he didn't want her to be there to say, 'I told you so,' if it actually worked. _

_He connected Ironhide's wrist cable to Chromia's port on the back of her neck...and waited. When Chromia gained consciousness well before Ironhide, having finally gained that extra energy she needed from him, Ratchet decided it was time to find out a little more about this 'Nightfire.'_

888888888888888

Chromia was too disoriented to see who was connected, but since some of the memories seemed to be Nightfire's, she jumped to the conclusion that it **was **Nightfire. She didn't even think about how long it had been since Nightfire had passed.

Nightfire had had to transfer energy to Chromia via her CPU port several times during Chromia's initial recovery. She knew how Chromia felt about it, but there was a time that Ironhide had been absent, so Nightfire did what was necessary for Chromia's survival.

Chromia hated CPU-port energy transfers. Ever since she had been tapped, she didn't want anyone near her CPU. She eventually agreed to allow Ironhide to do it, but only if absolutely necessary. Over time, and since his presence was so comforting, she was okay with him there, but she still didn't want anyone else near her CPU for any reason, even for simple data transfer. Chromia preferred to keep her thoughts and memories to herself.

Data transfers were just that, transferring any specific piece of data. It was done for expediency and accuracy of the data. There were no side affects, no memory transmissions or broadcasts.

With energy transfer, however, there were side affects. It was less controlled than a data transfer. It could result in disorientation and inadvertent memory transmissions from the giving bot and memory broadcasts from the receiving bot. None of these memories were taken, as with tapping, but they could flow freely and randomly. Most of the time, the transmitting Cybertronian didn't even realize it was happening. However, to a bot that had been tapped, it could feel like a violation just the same.

"Nightfire?!" Chromia growled out angrily, still too disoriented to know it couldn't have been her.

When a familiar mech's voice sounded in her audios, Chromia tried to twist away.

"Ratchet!" she yelled as her mind began to clear itself and she realized where, and when, she was. Another memory slipped through their connection...

---

_"Who are you? What is your function?" Ratchet asked._

_"I'm Nightfire. I'm the CMO of Floatilla."_

_Ratchet looked at her suspiciously, "The CMO?"_

_She nodded her head._

_"I didn't know Floatilla had a CMO," he sounded very suspicious._

_"There's a lot about Floatilla that you don't know," she replied._

_"How does a Decepticon know so much about bonded pairs and sparkshock?" he asked next._

_"How does an Autobot not know?" she retorted._

_The thing is, he SHOULD have known, but he had been dealing in battlefield medicine for so long that he was only prepared for so much. A warrior could live without an interfacing port. It made things harder for him or her, but it wasn't essential. A warrior living without an arm or a leg was another thing entirely._ _Optimus needed soldiers; Ratchet was going to be sure he had them in working order. _

_"This is a war...I specialize in battlefield injuries," he growled. "I can repair and reattach any bot that's been blown apart."_

_"And what about ripped apart family units? Can you repair and reattach them? This IS a war! And I specialize in treating the family units that have to suffer because of it!" she spat back._

_Ratchet stared at her. That sounded so strange, especially coming from a Decepticon._

_Anticipating his thoughts, she said, "You think a Decepticon is incapable of the compassion that would be needed for such a function?"_

_"I think a Decepticon is incapable of a lot of things," he replied._

_"How very typically narrow-minded of an Autobot," she shot back._

_There were numerous misconceptions about all factions. She was guilty of it too. However, what they all needed to realize was that, at their core, they were all Cybertronians, one and the same._

_"I find it hard to believe," Ratchet said after some length, "that the Autobots of Floatilla would allow a Decepticon to be the CMO." He just couldn't bring himself to trust that what she was saying was true. _

_Nightfire sighed sadly, her spark spreading a painful jolt through her frame. "It was Floatilla. Things were different there. It wasn't about factions. It was about protecting the future of Cybertron." _

_Ratchet suddenly realized that he believed her after all. It had been an unusually peaceful city, and the only place on Cybertron where all factions lived together. The rest of the warring planet could probably have learned something from Floatilla, if they had only paid more attention._

_Nightfire bowed her head and whispered, "I guess Lord Megatron has other plans."_

_Ratchet momentarily glanced away before making optic contact with her. _

_"I can use your help," he said after awhile. _

_He hadn't wanted her 'suggestions' at first, but the more they worked, the more it appeared that he could certainly learn a lot from her. He needed her help in order to properly care for his spark-shocked patients._

_"I can use yours," she replied. _

_Nightfire didn't have anywhere else to go. She was also going to need someone to tend to her sparkshock. Besides, she felt an obligation to Prime that she had extended to Ironhide and Chromia, as much of a challenge as that was proving to be. It was a challenge that gave her a purpose, a much needed distraction from her own loss and assured fate. Anything and everything had to be done to stop Megatron. Helping these bots would surely put them in the position to achieve that goal, her own motives being satisfied as well. _

_As soon as she felt that she had fulfilled her self-appointed obligation, then she could pass on, knowing that she got some amount of revenge, as direct or indirect as that may be. In the very least, she would be satisfied knowing that she had a hand in helping to safe-guard the innocents, as large or small as __**that**__ may be, now that most of them were gone._

_"Well, __**I **__am the CMO around __**here**__," Ratchet asserted himself with a feral grin, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had suddenly settled around them._

_"Fair enough," she said, matching his grin. He could keep thinking that if he wanted. _

_She glanced at his chassis, "But I am __**not **__wearing that Primus-forsaken symbol." She might have told Chromia and the other femmes that she fought with at Floatilla that she would join the Autobots if she survived, but she would have said damn near anything at that point. "I'll help you, but I'm not joining you."_

_"Fair enough," he replied._

888888888888888

Ratchet knew all too well how Chromia felt about CPU-port energy transfers. However, she was suffering from spark deprivation and low energon levels, which could be taken care of by simply joining with her sparkmate. From the thoughts that she was broadcasting, he was beginning to see why she wasn't doing so. It was a misunderstanding, but misunderstandings between Ironhide and Chromia could be colossal in scale. For bonded mates, they were both just so stubbornly, fiercely, independent.

Ratchet normally stopped CPU energy transfers if and when he started receiving broadcasts from the other bot, but not in this case. She needed energy now and he was trying to get her a lot of it as quickly as possible.

However, he had been startled when she called him 'Nightfire.' Concerned that he might have been transmitting from his most private of private moments in his life, he almost disconnected, but knowing how badly she needed this, he continued.

He should have known that this deterioration in Chromia was going to happen. He had just figured that Ironhide would take care of her and that everything would be balanced out as they became reacquainted with each other. He didn't anticipate that their problems would surface so soon. He was fairly certain that her meeting Bumblebee precipitated it.

If William Lennox hadn't been with them when they first got there, he would have had them join right then. Chromia would have been better equipped to handle the situation with Bumblebee and Ironhide would have been better equipped to handle Chromia's concern over what appeared to be the complete absence of his memories of their sparkling.

"What happened?" Chromia asked Ratchet once she could clear her head again.

"You came in, said something about Bumblebee and Nightfire...Then, you collapsed."

"Nightfire..." Chromia whispered reverently.

"I know how much you dislike this," Ratchet said about their CPU connection. He had tried to call Ironhide but, "I couldn't get in touch with Ironhide. He still has his comm shut off."

He had then tried to call Bumblebee to go and get Ironhide, but, strangely enough, Bumblebee had turned off his communications system as well.

He couldn't call Optimus to get Ironhide, because Optimus wasn't there at the moment. He had taken up Ironhide's duties at the Army installation and was staying with William Lennox until Ironhide was ready to return.

William Lennox had understood that Ironhide needed some time, but his boss, some 'Colonel Lagier,' did not. Ironhide had been absent for only a few orns, but that time had equalled a couple of months in human time. Colonel Lagier had been demanding to see the new arrival and for Ironhide to come back for more weapons questioning.

Optimus informed the Colonel that he, himself, knew all there was to know about Cybertronian weapons systems and that any questions regarding the new arrival could be directed to him. He even satisfied their demands by going there himself.

Ironhide didn't know Optimus had done that. If he had, he would have felt like he was neglecting his duties. Ironhide was very strict about his obligations. He may not always agree with Optimus's orders, but he took his job seriously. Because of this, Optimus had asked Ratchet not to tell Ironhide what he was doing unless Ironhide asked for him. Optimus knew Ironhide needed time with Chromia. He didn't want to take it away from either one of them, not for the demands of the humans, and especially since he could take care of that himself.

"Open yourself up to Ironhide, Chromia. If you call him, then he can do this instead of me," Ratchet tried appealing to her discomfort with the situation in order to get Ironhide in there and get them joined.

Chromia became angry that Ratchet knew she was closed off to Ironhide. He could only know that through thoughts that she must have been broadcasting through the CPU connection. She tried to remain calm.

"No, this is fine," she said.

Ratchet knew things were bad if she was willing to allow him to continue with the energy transfer. The issue between her and Ironhide was, indeed, a colossal misunderstanding.

8888


	26. Whirlwind

(posted July 20, 2008)

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks so much to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 25: **Bluebird Soaring, riah riddle, flamingmarsh, Kesera **(for reviewing both versions)**, Dragowolf **(for reviewing both versions)**, thechickenlittle, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, theshadowcat, Blume, Nitrostreak, PyroP-Dawg, Fae Child19, lady tecuma, MadameSoybean, xCubicZirconia, Hearts of Eternity, RachaelMNiner, Xerios, Lecidre, grlwdgrntrk, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.**

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: xCubicZirconia, Ladyofthedrgns**

**[Story Alert]: Xaris Fishie, flamingmarsh, xCubicZirconia, Ladyofthedrgns**

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**CREDITS:** I am using **lady tecuma's **idea of Floatilla having been blown and a memorial erected in its place, from her story, **"Sparks and Plasma." **The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma**. The Decepticon femme character with that name, however, is mine.

**THANK YOUs:** Thank you goes out to **Hearts of Eternity, Violetlight**, and **lady tecuma **for beta reading this. You all helped out in one form or another and thanks to Hearts for the helpful suggestions she gave.

**RECOMMENDATION: **I recently wrote a fic about Ironhide and Chromia before the events of "**Night Fire**." It is a one shot about a more..._special _moment between them that ties into this fic. It is called, **"Never Could Wait," **if anyone is interested, or hasn't read it (I know a lot of you have and I thank you so much for the reviews! They are great!).

(Summary for **Never Could Wait**: Movieverse: IronhidexChromia embody deadly accuracy, strengthened by sparkbond, driven by battle-hunger. As wounds are patched, hunger of a different kind takes shape, much to the aggravation of a certain medic. Restraint was never their strong point.)

**NOTE**: Memory reviews and flashbacks are not necessarily in chronological order. This will become more apparent in the next chapter.

_Italics_ are memory reviews or flashbacks. Normal print is the present.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 26

Whirlwind

by Litahatchee

_"This weld is a sorry excuse for a repair," Nightfire stated, matter-of-factly, as she assisted Ratchet in replacing the weld to Chromia's spark-casing..._

_...again._

_Ratchet didn't spare her a glance. She had been berating him about not replacing the spark-casing for orns now. It was a routine enough procedure, but not in Chromia's case. He was unsure how Chromia's systems would handle it. The damage was just too extensive and there were too many unknowns. Nightfire knew that. _

_For the umpteenth time, Ratchet said to her, "We didn't have any spare casings," which was exactly the reason that they did not replace it. However, that did not mean that replacing it would have been the right decision. In fact, it would have been a very bad, very fatal decision._

_Thinking back on it, Ratchet was very glad that there had been no spare casings around. If there had been, he would have replaced her damaged casing, and Chromia would not have survived. She wasn't strong enough for such a procedure. Ratchet would not have known that until it was too late._

_Nightfire reached, placing a small bit of solder to the back of the plate that First Aid had covered the hole on the casing with. _

_"It's a good thing you didn't," Nightfire replied almost absently. "She would have died for sure..."_

_Ratchet leaned back abruptly, looking at her incredulously. "You're the one that keeps telling me I should have replaced the casing. Now you're telling me I made the right decision?" _

_"I'm not saying you made the right decision about the weld, but it is a good thing you didn't replace the casing at that time."_

_Ratchet made an exasperated sound, "Are you here to help me or insult me?"_

_"Both," Nightfire answered without hesitation. "And you are the one that asked me for help, remember?"_

_"I didn't ask for your insults," Ratchet answered, though an amused smile began to form on his faceplates. There was something about her..._

_"Well," she continued. "This weld is always going to cause her problems, especially during joining with that fragger she bonded herself to. That's not something she can just __**give up**__, unfortunately. You can keep replacing the weld as needed, but it would be better if you can replace the casing at some point. That would solve a lot of her problems."_

_Ratchet looked at her pointedly, "And how do you propose I do that in this case?"_

_Nightfire matched his gaze, smiling wryly, "__**You're **__the CMO around __**here**__." She raised an optic ridge, "__**You**__ figure it out."_

_She never missed an opportunity to harass the Autobot medic, but she wasn't entirely sure herself on how to replace Chromia's spark-casing. It would be the best thing for Chromia, if it could be done but, for the time being, she also felt there had to be some other way to do this. They needed to find a stronger alloy so the weld would at least last a lot longer before needing replacement. The procedure was too hard on Chromia's already stressed systems._

_With sparkshock, a hole in her spark-casing, and a hole through her abdomen just beneath her spark, full of trouble-shooted rewiring, neither one of them were sure how her systems would react to the procedure. To make matters worse, Ratchet wasn't sure if her spark had suffered any microscopic injuries from shrapnel that might have come from either her spark-casing or the spear that penetrated it. The spear had missed her spark, and he had determined that her spark suffered no injury from it, but he couldn't be a hundred percent certain. _

_If there was further injury, he wouldn't know it until right in the middle of the procedure, as he transferred the spark. Then it could become an emergency that he wasn't prepared to deal with, especially since they were trying to preserve what was possibly one of the last bonded pairs of their kind. If he lost them, he would be unable to live with himself, especially knowing that they would continue to live if he simply just replaced the weld every now and then. _

_Perhaps, over time, her systems would heal and her spark would strengthen enough for him to feel confident in performing the replacement. But, at that time, he didn't think it was a good idea to try._

888888888888888

Chromia felt disoriented, again. The memory review that had just come through seemed to possess an underlying intention on Ratchet's part...

...Ratchet was planning on replacing the weld. Chromia tensed involuntarily. She didn't want him to replace the weld now. It wasn't a good time.

Ratchet gripped her neck as she tensed up, the flow of energy unsatisfactorily decreasing when she did so.

"Relax Chromia," he murmured.

He knew she was about to lose it, but he pressed anyway. He only needed another breem.

Chromia was suddenly plunged into darkness. It was all around her, all around **them**. Memories from all three of them were starting to surface between both she and Ratchet.

888888888888888

_She felt like she was suffocating, like Nightfire and Ratchet were closing in on her and she wanted nothing more than for both of them to leave her and Ironhide alone. Then, it happened. _

_Nightfire came in and told her that the Autobots were going to destroy what remained of Floatilla. They planned on leveling it, for nothing to remain and for nothing to be rebuilt. Instead, only one lone memorial with the names of all that were lost would be erected in its place. Nightfire told her that she planned on being on it when it blew. She should have died there. She belonged there with her sparkmate._

_Chromia's spark sank. As much as she wanted Nightfire to leave her alone about her own loss, she couldn't fathom the loss that Nightfire was enduring. However, she didn't want Nightfire to do it; she wanted her to remain with them. _

_As annoying as Nightfire could be, she had been with Chromia since the tragedy and Chromia didn't want her to leave. They were the only femmes that had survived Megatron's wrath at the plaza; they understood each other. Chromia felt like she needed her, that Nightfire was the only one that understood what that had been like... _

_However, instead of protesting, instead of talking her out of it, and because she understood, even envied her, Chromia made a request:_

_"Will you take Sunshadow with you? He belongs there too." _

_---_

_Ratchet came rushing into the recovery room a joor later, a joor too late. He looked very concerned. Nightfire had never left the medical facility before. Now he couldn't find her. _

_Floatilla had been scheduled for destruction that very cycle. Everyone knew that; they were all going to be watching. Nightfire's sudden disappearance could not have been a coincidence. Ratchet feared what her intentions could be. When he saw that Ironhide and Chromia's sparkling was gone, fear gripped his spark. _

_He ran to Chromia and Ironhide's room to ask what Chromia knew of it. Ironhide and Chromia were recovering fairly well, at least outwardly, but Ratchet had them reside in the medical facility until he was absolutely certain. Chromia was recalibrating her shoulder cannon when he ran in._

_He glanced at the cannon before saying, "Where is she? I know you know."_

_Chromia didn't even look up at him, "She's not going to just sit around and wait for death, you know."_

_"Dammit, Chromia, I'm not playing games!" Ratchet yelled._

_"Neither am I!" she screamed back, finally looking up at him. _

_It was the absolute terror on Ratchet's face that made Chromia relent. She had never seen him like that before. _

_"She went there," Chromia spoke quietly. "She plans on being on it when it blows."_

_That was exactly what Ratchet was afraid she was going to say._

_"And your sparkling?"_

_Chromia bowed her head, "She took him with her."_

_Ratchet bolted out of the room and Chromia turned her attentions back to her weapon. Everyone else may have been going to watch Floatilla as it blew, but she and Ironhide had other plans..._

_---_

_Ratchet found Nightfire at Floatilla, just where Chromia said she would be. He was able to find Optimus in time and they stopped the scheduled detonation. They were now waiting for him to give them the word that everyone was clear of the site before continuing on with it._

_"Nightfire, I can't let you do this," Ratchet had been trying to convince her for several breems that she was making the wrong decision. _

_"I should have died here," Nightfire said to him._

_"If you had died here, where would we be? Where would Ironhide and Chromia be? Where would Optimus be?"_

_"Yea, that's always been my dream as a Decepticon: to help the Autobots," she said, her words dripping in sarcasm. "And don't get me started on Ironhide...and Chromia is lost. Nothing I say or do gets through to her."_

_Ignoring the Autobot comment, Ratchet focused on Chromia, "It'll get through. It's in her mind. When the time comes, she'll remember."_

_"Will she?" Nightfire looked up at him, a knowing look on her face. _

_Both she and Ratchet knew that Chromia had been deleting memory files. It was something they worked hard to dissuade, but of no avail._

_Ratchet sighed. He tried another approach, "You saved Elita. Optimus is forever in your debt."_

_"I didn't save Elita; she saved herself," Nightfire replied._

_"That's not the way Optimus sees it," Ratchet said back._

_"Prime can see whatever he wants," she said._

_"She never would have made it, if it weren't for you!" Ratchet was getting angry. This femme was impossibly hard-headed._

_"Congratulations to me, then," she replied in that sarcastic tone again. A moment of silence went by before she added quietly, "I have fulfilled my obligations. Let me go, Ratchet."_

_Ratchet held out his hand, not intending to let her go, "Please, come back with me."_

_"Why are you doing this?" she was growing frustrated too. _

_If she ever ran into Chromia in the Matrix, or the Pit, whatever the case may be, she was going to be sure she showed Chromia her displeasure at telling Ratchet what her plans had been; she was going to show her with a fist right to her faceplates. She simply wanted him to leave._

_Ratchet's voice grew soft. "Because," he hesitated. "...Because I enjoy your company too much." _

_As much of a pain in his aft as she was, he had begun to like her presence. She simultaneously angered and amused him. He never knew what she was going to say next, and he loved that about her. He could no longer imagine his med bay without her in it. _

_No other Cybertronian had made an impression on him the way she had. She still had some time left. She could live awhile longer. He couldn't let her go now, not like this, not when there was still time. _

_Nightfire reached out from where she was sitting, and grasped Ratchet's outstretched hand..._

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When the memory turned into a feeling that Ratchet had for Nightfire, Chromia squirmed uncomfortably. It was too private; it felt too real.

"Be still for just one more astrosecond," Ratchet's calm tone came to her.

She jerked away a little, "I'm trying." Her voice sounded stressed, "You're transmitting!"

Ratchet disconnected immediately. Chromia gasped in relief that it was over. Primus, how she hated CPU-port energy transfers. Physically, she did feel better, though.

Chromia struggled with her thoughts. She was being bombarded. She was in a whirlwind, struggling with thoughts on Ironhide, thoughts on Sunshadow, thoughts on herself, thoughts on Nightfire...

She thought about what Nightfire said to Ratchet, about how she felt her words weren't getting through to Chromia. Chromia felt guilt again. She **had **forgotten a lot of Nightfire's guidance and counsel, even about Nightfire herself, but Ratchet had been right. It was there, in her CPU, and it came to her every now and then, when she needed it most. Nightfire had helped her more than she had ever been able to tell the femme.

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_"You have to accept this. It is a part of who you are. Even if you manage to be rid of it here," she pointed at Chromia's CPU, "it will still be here," she then pointed to her spark. "You will become incomplete, and you won't even know why."_

_"I'm moving on just fine," Chromia said to her._

_"Time is passing, yes, but it's moving on without you," Nightfire replied._

_"All I see is death," Chromia responded._

_"Don't forget to look at those you love and see life."_

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Chromia squeezed her optics shut. She wanted to lay it all to rest, but she didn't know how. She needed a distraction, any distraction. Thankfully, she had a good one.

"You were transmitting memories that belonged to Nightfire," she said to Ratchet, who was currently scanning her chassis and abdomen.

There was only two ways that one bot could possess the memories of another. Memories could be taken through tapping, or they could be given through a CPU download. Chromia knew better than to think Ratchet could be capable of tapping. He abhorred the crime. He'd never commit it himself. That could only mean one thing...Nightfire downloaded her CPU into his.

Ratchet slowed momentarily, but he did not comment on it. He had been afraid that he was transmitting something that could show that he did, indeed, posses Nightfire's memories. No one knew about it. It was something he kept to himself.

Chromia thought about that feeling that she felt from Ratchet. That **feeling **he had for Nightfire...

"You fell in love with her, didn't you?" Chromia could not keep the surprise from her voice.

Ratchet stopped the scans and placed his hands on the edge of the berth, sighing, "That's not possible. She could not love."

Nightfire could not love, because she already had a bonded mate. Once two Cybertronians spark-bound themselves to each other, the love that was shared was for the sparkmate and the sparkmate alone. If one of the mates died, the other was not capable of loving anyone else.

"No," Chromia responded. "But **you** could."

Ratchet said nothing for a few moments more and Chromia just stared at him in wonderment. Nightfire must have felt **something **for him. She could not give him her spark, so she gave him her CPU.

CPU downloads were unheard of among the Decepticons, and even the Autobots shied away from it. It was even rare among bonded mates. Ironhide had only just downloaded his CPU into Chromia's since she had arrived to Earth, and they had been sparkmates for eons upon eons.

For Nightfire to do something like that...It was a testament to how deeply she must have cared for Ratchet, even if she couldn't love him. Her memories seemed to be more integrated into Ratchet's CPU than Ironhide's was with Chromia's. Perhaps Ratchet had been more open to it than Chromia had been.

It was Ratchet's turn to find a distraction. He continued to run a few more scans and then that look on his faceplates when he had made a decision suddenly appeared.

Chromia tensed. He had been thinking about weld-replacement during the energy transfer. That had come through very clearly.

"I'm going to replace this weld right now," he said, opening her chestplates without preamble.

She had enough energy to make it through the procedure, but what she really needed was to join with Ironhide. However, it was a good thing that Chromia and Ironhide hadn't been able to join since they got to the base. The weld was very loose now and if it came off, she'd be in trouble. He needed to replace it now anyway.

"I don't feel up to it right now," Chromia started making excuses. Replacing the weld was very painful and her mind was too scrambled to have to deal with it at this moment.

"I gave you plenty of energy to withstand it," he said gruffly.

"I don't want to do this right now, Ratchet. This is not a good time," she said quickly.

"Whatever feelings I may or may not have had for Nightfire are irrelevant," Ratchet said. "What's relevant right now is that **you **are a bonded Cybertronian who needs her mate."

Chromia sighed, almost in resignation.

"You have to let him take care of you," Ratchet said.

"I don't need anyone to take care of me." Chromia hated being weak. The idea of someone taking care of her, even if it was Ironhide, sounded weak to her.

"The second you bonded with him, you needed him from then on, just like he needs you," Ratchet explained.

"I know how it works. Don't lecture me," Chromia snapped.

"Primus, how did you two ever agree to bond?" Ratchet shook his head, throwing his hands up in exasperation as he pondered that question for the trillionth time.

Chromia just glared at him.

"I'm replacing this weld and you are going to join with him if I have to strap you to this table and go get him myself," Ratchet stated.

"Ratchet, will you please just stay out of it this time?" Chromia placed her hands over her optics, her elbows sticking straight up in the air at him, as she recalled one of the more severe measures he went to in order to get her and Ironhide to join.

"When it comes to your health, I become involved," Ratchet replied, without remorse or apology.

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	27. Self Fulfilling Prophecy

(posted Aug. 5, 2008)

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Huge thanks to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 26: **Bluebird Soaring, flamingmarsh, ArmoredSoul, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, mou, Dragowolf, RachaelMNiner, Kesera, plenoptic, theshadowcat, MadameSoybean, Witch08, Fae Child19, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, Xerios, Lecidre, ****grlwdgrntrk, **and** Shizuka Taiyou. **

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: CuteKittten, Bumbelbee**

**[Story Alert]: swift hunter, plenoptic, Witch08, CuteKittten, HarbringerLady**

**CREDITS:** The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma **from her stories**, "Sparks and Plasma,"** **"Curse of the Little Feet," **and "**Guns and Cyber Roses."** The Decepticon femme character with that name, however, is mine.

**THANK YOUs:** Thanks to **lady tecuma **and **Hearts of Eternity **for reading over this.

**RECOMMENDATION: "When In Doubt"** by **i-love-me-some-leggypoo.** She is using my idea of carrying and the carry chamber, as it applies to sparklings, in that story (with permission, of course) and has done a fine job with portraying it.

**NOTE: Violetlight **had asked me where the Decepticons are in my story, the ones that survived on Earth after the battle at Mission City. Well, there's a blurb in here that I think you'll all like. I think I might even have something more on that later on.

**NOTE 2: **Ratchet appears to be somewhat of a psychoanalyst in this chapter (thanks, Hearts, for defining that for me). I figure he's the CMO; he'd not only know how to take care of physical injuries, but that he'd care for his patients' states of mind as well, much the same way as we've seen Nightfire doing for Chromia. He can't do everything or have an answer for everybody, such as in the chapter where he can't give a reason for his spark-shocked patients to live, and the fact that he didn't know how to tread sparkshock in the first place. But, he would have training/programming in how to help a bot mend his/her CPU's mental state. I imagine something like that would be important for him to know during their time of war. He's not a super-bot, but he tries, and sometimes it all works in his favor. I try to show that each of these characters have margins of error. Nobody is perfect, after all, not even if one is programmed to be. Situations and the events that happen around us aren't always going to suit us.

_Italics _are flashbacks. The flashbacks in this chapter happen **before** the flashback in chapter 26, the one where Nightfire returns to Floatilla. Regular print is the present timeframe. There is definitely some overlap to what Ironhide and Chromia are doing in the present. Their present situations are happening at the same time.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 27

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

by Litahatchee

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Causing something to happen by believing it will occur. What one fears can very easily become a belief if one lets it.

--

Ironhide lay there, staring at the ceiling. It was becoming more and more clear to him that Chromia wasn't coming back. He glanced at the door for the hundredth time...

...Nothing.

It had been less than an orn since Bumblebee had stormed out. Ironhide had tried to reach him several times, but with no luck. He didn't want to leave Bumblebee to his worries all on his own. The only thing he could think to do would be to take Bumblebee to Optimus and leave them to discuss their spark issues. Ironhide couldn't help Bumblebee, because he wasn't quite sure what all it involved, but he was sure Optimus knew everything. Bumblebee didn't deserve to be left in the dark any longer. Ironhide would demand that of Optimus.

However, Ironhide didn't budge from where he was to go looking for Bumblebee. He was certain his push through Chromia's barriers was going to send her running back to him.

He glanced at the door again.

As soon as she came back, he'd take very good care of her spark. After that, they'd go after Bumblebee, together. Perhaps they could even be a family.

He glanced at the door, again.

Forcing air out of his vents, grumbling to himself, he sat up, his spark protesting his movements. He certainly didn't feel very well, about as well as he felt during all that time he and Chromia were separated from each other.

He shouldn't have to be going through this anymore. She was right here, on the same planet as him, on the same ship, for Primus's sake! What the frag?! He growled a bit angrily.

He glanced at the door...again.

She wasn't fragging coming and he knew it. If Chromia had pushed through their bond the way he had, he would never have been able to resist her. Only Chromia was strong enough to deny her spark such a calling. He grinned in spite of his discomfort. He adored her for her strength. She was an amazingly strong femme. Perhaps, he needed to **tell** her that...

His smile faded as he glanced at the door, yet again.

Who was being the most stubborn? Her for not coming back to him, or him for not going after her? Perhaps Bumblebee was right. He should be going after her. What was he doing?

When asking himself questions on what had happened, what Chromia must be thinking, what she must be feeling, his fears prevented him from acting. He simply froze, refusing to look at himself as part of the solution, as a helping factor. He was having trouble coping also; how could he possibly be of help to her?

He knew what he had to do. He just didn't know if **he** was strong enough.

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_"You have to confront what you fear the most. Only then will you be able to face reality," Ratchet was saying to Ironhide, yet again._

_Ironhide had taken it upon himself to seek a personal vendetta against the Decepticons involved in Floatilla. He didn't know who all they were, but he had ways of finding out, ways that had every Decepticon this side of Iacon fearing that he was coming for them next. What he didn't know, he questioned, and who he questioned, whether they were Decepticons that were involved or not, never survived. _

_Chromia had slowly begun to fade as Ironhide's absences started getting longer. He was gone for only half an orn the first time, but in Chromia's weakened state even that was too long. _

_Ratchet was finding himself more and more strained to keep them together. The thing that stressed him the most was that Chromia hid her condition from Ironhide. Ironhide could tell that something was wrong, but she blew it off, and since it fit the needs of his vendetta, he blew it off too. _

_Ratchet was further disturbed that they weren't joining when they said they had. After the first several joinings, he didn't see the need to be standing over them every time, preferring to give them some privacy every now and then. Only, it was during those times that they didn't actually go through with it, even lying to him about it, saying that they actually did. That, coupled with the fact that Ironhide would make himself absent, lent itself to the hard fact that Chromia wasn't getting the energy she needed, nor was she getting the support she needed from her mate, whose worst fear was starting to overwhelm him._

_"I do not fear Megatron," Ironhide said firmly._

_"I am not talking about Megatron," Ratchet said, just as firmly. He continued, "I know you fear that you were unable to be there when Chromia needed you the most."_

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'I wasn't able to be there,' Ironhide thought to himself, presently.

He thought through it again, all the 'what ifs?' His thoughts were overcome with feelings, thoughts and feelings that said to him, 'We never should have split up. Chromia should have come with me to Koan. We would have been together, survived whatever the Decepticons would have thrown at us, together, like we've done a million times before, and Sunshadow would still be with us. He could have been Bumblebee's older sibling, and the four of us would have been a family unit. There would have been no hiding, no secrets. We would all have survived together.'

Ironhide did fear that he wasn't able to be there for Chromia and Sunshadow, but there was more to it than regret of what they were unable to have.

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_"She needs you the most now, Ironhide," Ratchet said after pausing to see if Ironhide would say anything else. _

_"She needed me to be there for him," Ironhide finally responded._

_"For your sparkling?" Ratchet asked gently._

_"Yes, our sparkling!" Ironhide growled._

_Ratchet had never actually heard Ironhide say the sparkling's name. He didn't even know what it was. He tried to get Ironhide to say it on several occasions, but to no avail. _

_Ratchet sighed; Ironhide wasn't going to be able to face reality if he couldn't even say the name. Well, one thing at a time. Ratchet needed Ironhide to focus on Chromia. Hopefully, the other would come with time._

_"No, Ironhide," Ratchet pressed. "__**Now**__ is when she needs you the most."_

_She needed him now more than ever, now that their sparkling was gone, not only for the sparkshock, but for the emotional support and stability. They both needed each other for that._

_"She needs your help," Ratchet pressed some more._

_"She has help," Ironhide answered._

_"From Nightfire? Nightfire is just..." Ratchet started to say._

_"Don't say that name around me!" Ironhide interrupted him._

_Ironhide didn't want to, couldn't, acknowledge who and what Chromia was getting help from._

_"Maybe that is part of what you fear. She's getting help from that which you hate the most," Ratchet countered._

_Ironhide's hatred for anything and everything Decepticon had grown to a crazed, irrational, fanatical rage. Ratchet really couldn't blame him. He couldn't imagine what kind of pain Ironhide was in. However, Ratchet was trying, and he was damned well going to try and help the mech before he plunged into complete darkness. Unfortunately, Ratchet knew all too well that he was failing miserably._

_Ironhide's thirst for revenge had become unquenchable. No Decepticon was safe from it and Nightfire had the unfortunate disposition to be a target for it, no matter what she did for Chromia._

_It was like a switch. Ironhide would be doing fine, a demeanor of calm. Then, each time he saw her, something would turn on. Rage and hatred and all manner of murderous intent would simply pour through him. _

_Ratchet worked hard to keep them separated, which was often difficult to do since Nightfire spent so much time with Chromia. However, she avoided Ironhide when she could and as long as Ironhide didn't see her, as long as no one mentioned her around him, he was content with knowing that Chromia was receiving some help. He preferred to delude himself with thinking that it was simply from a medic of Ratchet's choosing._

_"She lost too, you know," Ratchet found himself defending Nightfire more and more around Ironhide._

_"Her sparkmate was there, Ratchet, actively involved. How many younglings and femmes do you think he killed before he was forced to beg for her? How many do you think begged __**him**__? You haven't thought about that, have you?"_

_Ratchet paused, hesitating, before saying, "Situations change..."_

_"How do you know she wasn't involved herself? Hiding plans for something like that from a sparkmate is extremely difficult," Ironhide continued angrily._

_"But possible, and you know it," Ratchet countered. _

_"She is a Decepticon. You can't cut that out of her spark." Ironhide didn't bother to hide the snarl in his tone._

_"It has been cut out of her spark...in the form of her sparkmate," Ratchet sighed._

_"Deluge, Ratchet. I knew that scrap-heap. He was a merciless bastard with a twisted mind and hideous attack methods. He got what he deserved."_

_'Some would say the same about you,' Ratchet thought to himself. _

_Thank Primus he didn't let that slip out. There would be no taming Ironhide, at this point, to be compared to that which he hated. It actually becomes a joke later on, that Ironhide is really a Decepticon, but it would be vorns before Ironhide could actually begin to laugh at it._

_Ironhide was still speaking. "She bonded herself to __**that. **__Her own capabilities for such horrors is immeasurable."_

_"But she did bond, which means both she and Deluge were capable of something else," Ratchet couldn't leave it be. Ironhide had a right to be angry, but he also believed that what Ironhide was doing was wrong._

_"What? Love? Compassion?" Ironhide countered. "Do you think he felt compassion for the younglings he killed at Floatilla? Keep her away from me, Ratchet, or I will kill her. The only good Decepticon is a dead one."_

_"Revenge is not the answer," Ratchet pressed._

_"Yea, well it makes me feel a Pit of a lot better."_

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Ironhide suppressed the sudden urge to rush out the door and hunt down any remaining Decepticons. Barricade was still out there somewhere. Ironhide could take it out on him.

Ironhide hadn't killed in vengeance in a long time. Optimus had done everything in his power to prevent such actions from him. Ironhide was fairly certain he was past that, not only for Optimus's sake, but for Chromia's, even though she joined him when she was able, up to the point that Optimus was forced to separate them.

However, if he had known that it had been Barricade that had recognized Chromia at the Floatilla plaza, Barricade would be dead already.

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_Ratchet had allowed himself to get distracted from the main issue with Ironhide, of Ironhide. He shook himself. He wasn't easily manipulated, yet Ironhide managed to do it. _

_What was happening? He found himself taking up for Nightfire more and more. Surely he wasn't developing feelings for the femme. He didn't know what she had been capable of before, but he knew what she was capable of now, and that was what mattered as far as he was concerned. _

_She was the fragging CMO of Floatilla, appointed by Autobots and Decepticons alike. There had to be something good about her, or, in the very least, mutual. The Decepticon definition of 'good' and the Autobot definition of 'good' could be quite different._

_Ratchet was further perplexed by Ironhide's propensity for revenge. It was such a Decepticon attribute that it was scary._

_"Optimus would not approve of what you're doing," he said._

_"Optimus is in no position to disapprove," Ironhide commented coolly._

_Ratchet stared at him in disbelief. Ironhide was taking advantage of Optimus's vulnerability due to Elita's current absence and situation. It was extremely deceptive. Ratchet needed to convince Ironhide to stay with Chromia, not only for Chromia's sake, but, now, more than ever, for Ironhide's._

_He glared at Ironhide. "Only __**you**__, __**Ironhide**__, can give Chromia the help she needs. Perhaps when your mind isn't clouded with rage, you'll finally see that."_

_Ironhide turned and angrily started walking away._

_"I understand that you're angry, 'Hide. It's okay to be angry, but it's not okay to be so full of rage that it consumes you. While it's consuming you, your worst fear will come true."_

_Ironhide whirled back around, "And what is it that you think I fear the most?"_

_"You fear losing her."_

_Ironhide almost laughed. "I am not afraid of death...and neither is she."_

_"No...not death. Death would be a release, but you __**are**__ afraid of her dying without you," Ratchet said to him. "No, what you fear more than that is losing __**her**__, that she might lose faith in you, that her confidence in you is faltering, that her love for you will waver. You fear that she'll become a shell of what she once was. Only you can prevent that from happening."_

_Ironhide stared at him, a small measure of shock showing through his facial features. Ratchet hit closer to home than Ironhide wanted to admit._

_"Is that what this vendetta is about? Impressing her? Showing her you're still worthy?" Ratchet pressed. "If you die out there, or she in here, then you'll die a lonely old mech, never knowing if she died loathing you for what you think are your shortcomings." Ratchet paused, quietly adding, "You couldn't save them, Ironhide. She understands that."_

_Ironhide launched himself at Ratchet, slamming him against the wall, "Do not tell me what she does and doesn't understand!"_

_Unfazed, unflinching, except to regain his balance, Ratchet said to him, "__**You**__ need to understand."_

_Ironhide shoved away from him, turning to get the frag out of there as quickly as possible._

_"If you don't stay with her, neither one of you will ever understand! It's a self-fulfilling prophecy! As long as you continue to fear losing her, you really will!" Ratchet called after him._

_"They will know fear before I crush them with my bare hands!" Ironhide yelled, not listening to what Ratchet was saying at all._

_Ratchet watched as Ironhide left the med bay. "Frag!" he bellowed, banging his fist on the wall as he shoved away from it. "Why don't you just go ahead and join them while you're killing them!" It's a part of what Decepticons did anyway. They deceived and killed each other while they fought the Autobots._

_Ratchet couldn't help but think that Megatron was winning. Megatron took their strength and turned it into the weakness that he said it was. Ironhide and Chromia were faltering. They needed to remember the strength that they had before. They could have that again, but, until then, the Decepticons really had beaten them. They had found a way to stop the unstoppable pair, in a way worse than death, even though Megatron had intended for them to die. _

_What ended up happening was better suited to Megatron's needs than he even realized. Ironhide and Chromia didn't need to die. What he had done to them was tearing them apart anyway. Sure, Ironhide was unleashing unholy Pit upon the Decepticons, and his sparkmate would probably be right out there with him before it was all said and done, but the darkness they were both plunging into was going to consume their very sparks. _

_Eventually, they would be taken out of the equation...and, if there was anything endearing about Megatron, it was his patience. He could wait it out, even send a few of his soldiers to their deaths for the vengeance of the duo. Megatron knew it wouldn't last. _

_Something would stop them, whether that be a lucky blow from one of his Decepticons, which was bound to happen as the pair continued to lose faith in each other, or whether it be Optimus himself. Optimus might have been indisposed at the moment, but Megatron knew his brother well enough to know that he wouldn't stand for what they were doing. He could always count on his brother to 'do the right thing.' _

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Ironhide suppressed the memories and pushed them as far away as possible. Pain gripped his spark. He really was losing her, just as he always feared.

He was always under the impression that, if he kept it to himself, he wouldn't have to lose her. They could live in blissful ignorance together. However, that didn't work. It nibbled away at their sparks, pushing themselves further from the truth, until they were both living a lie.

It wasn't until much much later that Ironhide actually sought Ratchet's counsel. Even then, though, it was Ratchet who did most of the talking. Ironhide listened, however, and to Ratchet, that was a step in the right direction.

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_"Our joinings are different. There's a..." Ironhide shook his head, "I'm not talking about this with you."_

_"Then don't," Ratchet said to him. "Talk about it with her."_

_"We're living with it. I don't need to talk about it," Ironhide responded._

_"You're not living with it, Ironhide. You're avoiding it."_

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Ironhide never really did talk about it, not that he particularly liked to talk about much of anything anyway, but both he and Chromia had kept it bottled up for vorns. They lived for eons ignoring it, avoiding it, hiding from it.

However, Ironhide had been blessed with something wonderful, in the form of Bumblebee. What did Chromia have?

Again, Ironhide marveled at how strong she was, much stronger than he. Someone must have known that. Whoever's decision it was to give Bumblebee to him, that being knew that he would fall into darkness long before Chromia would. Bumblebee was the only thing that saved him. Chromia, on the other hand, had to resort to deletion, but she could hardly be blamed for that.

Now, she wanted it all back. She had looked to him, to Ironhide, to get it all back. How could he be so stupid?! His own stubbornness not to face reality prevented him from being there for her when she was practically begging for him to be. Ratchet had been right...

**Now** was the time she needed him most.

Would she even accept his help at this point? Would she even listen to him? It had been so long, yet remained so fresh to both of them. If she no longer had faith in him, he wasn't sure he could help her anyway.

He held his head in his hands, despair threatening to take over.

He glanced at the door, again...

No.

Not like this.

Not now.

A certain resolve began to form.

"No," he said out loud.

They didn't survive this long to lose the battle now. He wasn't going to let it happen. He wasn't going to lose her in any way. He couldn't afford to. She was everything to him.

Ironhide stood up.

He had never deleted anything. Despite what Chromia thought she couldn't find, it was all there. He simply just didn't think about it. It was too painful. He wasn't strong enough to deal with it on his own. He dispersed those memories into directories that were very rarely accessed. The memories were all there. They were just hidden, sequestered away into the nether regions of his CPU, as files that became an archive rather than daily considerations.

He took a step forward, accessing one of them for the first time in vorns. He was going to confront his fears. He did not spend the last millennia without her to lose her now.

Another step: He had to find the words. They shared so much with their sparks, but that had been mostly feelings. Since they didn't allow themselves to think about it, none of these thoughts would be conveyed through joining. All they could get from one another was feelings. Words possessed a power to solidify what the feelings were. Ironhide may have been a mech of few words, but he had to find them now. He had to express to her his fears. He had to express to her what she truly meant to him, through words, even what she already knew in her spark. He had to say it, actually speak it.

They had never spoken of the tragedy together, preferring to run from it and each other through the times when it was the worst for each of them...always hiding it...always hiding from it.

He took another step, this one with more confidence. He was done running. He was done hiding.

He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, allowing the painful memories to come to the front of his mind. They weren't all painful; most of them were wonderful. He had wonderful, beautiful memories of Sunshadow in life. Up until now, Ironhide simply couldn't look at them, not after losing what was most dear to him.

He sighed as he faced the sad reality. He could do this, but not without her help, and, in doing so, he could provide her with the help she's always needed, the help that Ratchet and Nightfire encouraged but, in the end, couldn't provide.

He would tell Chromia where to look and they would face it together...everything. They would face all the joy their sparkling brought to them, and the tragedy it represented. Sunshadow was a part of them. It was time they acknowledged that he was still a part of them.

Ironhide quickened his step.

No more running...No more hiding from the truth of Sunshadow's death. Ironhide found that he could finally think of Sunshadow in terms of death. Before, he had always thought of him as simply 'gone.'

He slowed, his resolve faltering, but the thought of losing Chromia motivated him to resume his pace. He would be there for her, completely and fully...not just physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. He hoped she'd be there for him, too. He couldn't do this alone. Neither one of them ever could.

And Ironhide had Bumblebee. It was time Chromia had Bumblebee, too. They could finally live together as a family.

He reached out to her, but she was still blocking him. He tried to push through the barrier again, but she was locked up tight. That didn't discourage him. If she could find him in a galaxy full of billions of stars, he could find her on a ship with less than a hundred rooms.

Ironhide headed towards Optimus's office, at first. Chromia hadn't spoken with Optimus yet, so that was the most likely place Ironhide thought she'd end up.

For some odd reason, or maybe not so odd since he'd just been thinking about him, he thought of Ratchet. It was unlikely that Ratchet had seen her again since she arrived, but Ironhide knew Ratchet wouldn't be happy with her condition if he did run into her, nor would he be happy with Ironhide's.

Ironhide accessed a memory with one of the more extreme lengths that Ratchet went to in order to get Ironhide to physically stay with Chromia during that initial recovery, in order to get him to join with her. Ironhide switched directions and headed towards the med bay. If Ratchet so much as tried anything like that again, Ironhide was sure he'd come close to killing the medic...

He'd just go nip that in the bud right now, as he'd heard Will Lennox say.

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* * *

A/N: Oh my goodness, I sure do hope you all liked that one. Review? (smile) It only takes a minute to write one and those darn things sure do mean a lot to me. In the words of 'theshadowcat,' I'm a review junkie! LOL!

8888


	28. The Black Hole

(posted Aug. 24, 2008)

**Disclaimer:** All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks so much to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 27: **RachaelMNiner, flamingmarsh, ArmoredSoul, LadyJet2, plenoptic, CommonlyBefuddled, xCubicZirconia, Bluebird Soaring, lady tecuma, theshadowcat, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Kesera, Dragowolf, Hearts of Eternity, Xerios, Lecidre,** **grlwdgrntrk, **and** Shizuka Taiyou.**

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: echo21, jessiegeta**

**[Story Alert]: echo21**

**[Favorite Author]: CommonlyBefuddled, Kesera**

I thank you all for the continued support of this story. Each and every review, fave, and alert means the world to me. I hope that you folks continue to be inspired to leave them. Reviews don't take a lot of time, unless you review like I do (LOL!) (but that's beside the point). Most of the time, they don't take a lot of time and I sure do thank the ones of you that take the time to do it. THANK YOU!

**NOTE:** This entire chapter is a flashback that represents a repeated action. A big fat chocolate chunk cookie to anyone that can tell me what this chapter represents. It isn't supposed to be hard to figure out, but the entire chapter is a metaphor. Here's a hint: I touched upon 'The One' in one of the earlier chapters *grins* (cough cough...chapter 4...cough). It'll be clear what is going on as the story progresses. I hope you all enjoy this one. I really enjoyed the research that I did to bring this one together. Having said that, I am not a Physicist nor an Astronomer, so if anything is seriously out of whack, please go easy on me.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 28

The Black Hole

by Litahatchee

_There was..._

_...The One._

_The One, They, Their, Them, The Whole, Two Halves, It, Itself...These were all the same entity._

_The One..._

_They..._

_Their..._

_Them..._

_The Whole..._

_Two Halves..._

_It..._

_Itself..._

_The One was just there...Simply existing. Simply One._

_Simple...yet, complicated._

_The One was Two Halves of The Whole that, at moments like this, only knew the other, only knew The One, thinking as One, feeling as One. Nothing else mattered...yet, everything mattered._

_The One was everything. The One was nothing._

_The One was the beginning. The One was the end._

_Yet, there was no beginning. There was no end. Time was never constant. The One was part of the boundless continuum of time and space. Perhaps time and space, themselves, existed as one. Whether this spacetime was its own entity or a relationship between the entities created from the radiance of The One, The One drifted through them. Perhaps time was linear; perhaps it was circular, but The One floated freely in the unknown that time represented in space._

_The One transcended time and space, drifting through an expanse of emotion created by Them... created for Them... recreating Them._

_The One was the most significant entity within Their universe, Their multiverse._

_The One was the most insignificant entity within Their universe, Their multiverse._

_The One was a galaxy within the universe, a universe within the multiverse, drifting through the expanse of Their devotion created by Their love. As emotions such as love and devotion emitted from The One, celestial bodies with the same names were formed: Love and Devotion. _

_Each feeling radiated off of The One so immensely, with such density, that The One's emotions became their own masses, growing and forming until such masses affected The One, were reflected back to The One, further deepening the meaning of each emotion for The One. _

_Each celestial body of an emotion created by The One dotted the expansive universe of The One. The One would find itself drifting often, visiting each body with every integration of The Two Halves into The Whole, causing said emotions to grow within and without._

_Happiness, Contentment, Passion, Compassion, Desire, Wild Abandon were all celestial bodies of their own...Belonging to nothing but The One, within The One, outside of The One. What was created without, as The Two Halves of The One existed separately, reflected what was created within, as The Two Halves existed together as The One._

_The One was creator...and The One was creation, constantly evolving, growing, learning from the universe created by Itself. By no means was The One a god of Their universe, far from it, but, They shaped it...They were shaped by it. The One was whole within Their universe._

_This was Their reality. Creator...creation...drifting through Their universe._

_There was an explosion of euphoric sensation. The One radiated Euphoria, created Euphoria, was created by Euphoria until It became Euphoria for an unknown amount of time._

_Above all was Love. Primus himself could shed a tear at its purity. Love radiated from The One. It was the light of Their star that shone brighter than any other of the entities within Their universe._

_Two Halves of One were in perfect equilibrium. The Two Halves of One drifted...loving, passionate, existing in perfect harmony. Happiness was perfectly harmonized within Itself._

_There was no physical pain, but...there was something. There was something that lingered. Something lingering that caused Them to falter, that caused Their equilibrium of Contentment to sway...Something that interrupted Their harmony._

_There was...Grief..._

_The One quickly set orbit around Love...revolving around it, allowing it to rekindle Passion and Euphoria. However, Sadness would not be ignored...Regret would find The One time and again, Guilt throwing the orbit off, causing Them to sway even more._

_There was something else._

_Something that had never been there before...not until a piece of the integrated Whole, a piece of The One, had been lost to Them forever._

_Panic set in half of The One, the other half struggling to bring it back...The One was interrupted in Its contentment of being Whole._

_---_

_There was..._

_...The Void._

_The Void, The Dark, Darkness, The Dark Giant, The Black Mass, The Black Hole...These were all the same entity._

_The Void..._

_The Dark..._

_Darkness..._

_The Dark Giant..._

_The Black Mass..._

_The Black Hole..._

_The Void was dark and heavy, deep and foreboding, ominous and completely devoid of Light. They couldn't see The Void, but The Void was there. _

_Within Darkness was a mass of such density and blackness, such gravity and compression, that it threatened to draw The One in and crush Them from Their universe, eventually taking the entirety of it with Them._

_Darkness couldn't be ignored. Darkness was nearly impossible to avoid. The Void demanded Their attention, Their acknowledgement... But, They tried...Oh, how They tried to ignore it. _

_However, it was drawing on Their very existence, disrupting Their harmony. It seemed to be pulling Them towards it slowly, but that could have been smaller passages of time integrated into a single quick passage of time the closer They got to it. They were afraid of it, haunted by it, fearful Their universe was at an end...or, altered to the point of no return._

_The Void did not always exist in Their universe. The Void was forced on The One, formed by a sudden collapse. Since then, The Void had been there, but not like this. The more that time passed on the outside, the bigger, the more prominent, Darkness became on the inside. _

_The Dark fed off of what They brought with Them into Their universe: Avoidance, Disregard, Anger, Fear, Abandonment, Guilt, Denial...The Void's appearance was no fault of Their own, but They made it the Dark Giant it had become. In turn, this Dark Giant was threatening to create Insanity within The One._

_The One started breaking apart...gravity of The Black Mass pulling them in different directions. They tried to shield each other from its Darkness. Each of the Two Halves could not prevent the other from falling as They broke apart, but They tried. Only as One would Their light shine bright enough to push Darkness away. But, They couldn't do it. _

_They were held together as The One by Love and Devotion, Contentment and Passion. However, Guilt and Regret, Fear and Anger were forces full of gravity that lent to eminent separation. These were entities They never faced as The One, not even as individuals of The Two Halves._

_---_

_There had been..._

_...The Creation._

_The Creation, The Star, The Light... These were all the same entity._

_The Creation..._

_The Star..._

_The Light..._

_The Void represented certain death of a massive Star in Their universe...The Star that was created by The One..._

_Unlike the celestial bodies created through The One's emotions, The Creation was different. The Creation had existed outside of Their universe as real as The Creation existed within. The Creation was a part of Them from within and without, as individuals of The Two Halves and as The One. _

_As The One, The Creation existed as its own small galaxy within Their universe. The Creation within Their universe had revolved around The One, and The One had revolved around The Creation._

_The Star of The Creation was no longer the brilliant Light that The One had created...All that remained in its place was The Void. The Light that used to shine from the massive Star of The Creation could no longer escape. It had been forced to collapse into Darkness._

_Stellar masses revolved around The Creation as celestial bodies of emotion that were formed from both The One and The Creation: feelings each had for the other. These celestial masses, like The Star, were created, but, unlike The Star, they did not die. These celestial bodies, once luminous and thriving, were no longer illuminated by The Creation's light. They were as dark and foreboding as The Void._

_Love was the most massive, now darkened, celestial body still orbiting The Void...unconditional Love that The Creation had for The One. _

_A new mass from The One was suddenly pulled into the gravitational orbit of The Void: Sadness...Grief. Grief fell off of the The One in chunks as The One broke apart. The chunks were picked up by the gravitational pull of the darkened body of Love and The Void._

_An infinite amount of time seemed to pass, yet, time was speeding up. They were being pulled nearer to Darkness. Two Halves were no longer One as They tried to hold on to each other. They pulled each other away from the event horizon of The Black Hole. There would be no turning back if They could not escape it, if They were to fall into it._

_The main concern for each half was not to allow the other to fall in without him/her. If either of them ever crossed the horizon, whichever one it was would still be able to see things on the outside. Light from those things would still reach them. However, whoever remained on the outside would not be able to see what lied over the horizon. No light would be able to escape once the horizon was crossed. Whichever one fell in would succumb to total Darkness, Insanity a definite end, leaving the other to anguish over the shell of what would remain of the reason for their existence in the first place._

_Sudden awareness to the outside world always pulls them out of it, ending the certain mental breakdown that might otherwise occur. Bizarrely, they always felt physically energized afterwards, which always made their medics happy. However, they were struggling within their sparks, deteriorating from within. They thought it was hopeless. _

_The Black Hole lay in the path of their future..._

_...and there is no way to avoid the future._

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	29. Catch22

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 28.

To the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 28: Giant-sized chocolate chunk cookies go to **CuteKittten **(with 3 t's...lol), **Bluebird Soaring, Dragowolf, Kesera, Violetlight, lady tecuma, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Xerios, **and **Hearts of Eternity **for getting all or part of what the metaphors stood for in chapter 28. You guys rock! Chocolate chip cookies go to **flamingmarsh, ArmoredSoul**, **TransFlashbacks, **and **Lecidre **for still reviewing chapter 28, even when the content wasn't so clear, and letting me know they still loved my descriptions. Thanks guys. That really means a lot to me.

**Xerios, Xerios, Xerios**!! Holy crap! I just about died when I saw all those reviews! OMG, thank you, thank you, thank you! That was amazing. I sincerely thank each and every one of my readers that have reviewed over the months, but Xerios came on and reviewed 20 chapters at once! Dude, that was an epic marathon run of reviewing. I am forever grateful. I cannot thank you enough! This chappie is for you, my friend.

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: Emory Lee**

**[Story Alert]: Xerios**

Thanks you two *smiles*

Fanfiction started a **'Reader Traffic'** tracking function at the end of July, 2008. The first full month of tracking was August, 2008. I knew I had readers from other countries, but didn't realize just how many. It is somewhat daunting...intimidating even... I had no idea how far this thing was reaching! So, the **total visiting countries** (from most to least visitors) for the month of **August **were: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, Mexico, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Costa Rica, Poland, Ireland, Spain, Denmark, Peru, Hungary, Chile, Portugal, Asia/Pacific Region, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, and Iraq! Amazing!

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me play with their ideas. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma **from **'Sparks and Plasma,' 'Curse of The Little Feet,' **and **'Guns And Cyber Roses.' **

Thanks to **lady tecuma **for beta-reading this for me and answering all my insecure, 'is this okay?' questions...LOL.

**Caution: **There are a couple things in this chapter that might be unsettling to some of you. However, these are aliens and they would do things differently from us anyway. Plus, this is a mature story. All I ask is that you keep an open mind. It might not be anything, but I thought I'd just put a warning in here, just in case. Of course, if you're still reading this story, then you've seen plenty of unsettling moments already, so this will seem like nothing...LOL! Maybe you'll even cheer Ratchet on (smile).

**NOTE: **This chapter should clear up what chapter 28 was all about, but I will go ahead and say that what was happening. What you read in ch. 28 was what Ironhide and Chromia experienced when they joined during their initial recovery. It also shows that they are each other's entire universe, like I portrayed when they joined briefly in chapter 4. The black hole in their universe did not appear until after Sunshadow died. The reason they had such a hard time joining, as Chromia recovered from the wounds inflicted upon her at Floatilla, was because of the black hole and what it represents to them during their most intimate moments. If you want, read chapter 29 and then go back and read chapter 28. I put that chapter in this because I really wanted to convey what Ironhide and Chromia experience through their bond.

This chapter is a flashback that follows the flashbacks in chapter 27 and includes what is happening in chapter 28.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 29

Catch-22

by Litahatchee

Catch-22: A predicament that is impossible for one to get out of because of another predicament...You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

--

_Orns had passed since the Floatilla Massacre... almost a vorn. The Autobots were losing battle after battle, thanks to Megatron's new 'secret weapon.' The secret weapon was no secret to Optimus Prime, however; a secret weapon that Optimus could not locate no matter how hard he tried, and Megatron made sure of that, never failing to taunt Optimus over that fact._

_However, the battle that concerned Ratchet, at the moment, was the battle in the med bay. Many of the bonded patients suffering from sparkshock had already succumbed to their fates...and the number of battle damaged patients from the recent battle losses had been mounting._

_Then, there was Ironhide and Chromia..._

_Not only were the Autobots losing their battles, but so was Ratchet. The only one that seemed to be successful in what he was doing was Ironhide. Optimus did not agree with Ironhide's reasons, but it was as Ironhide had said before, Optimus was in no position to disagree, either. If Ironhide could continue to be successful in exacting his guerrilla tactics on the Decepticons, then that could be considered a victory, despite the fact that it was for revenge._

_Ratchet argued his point time and again. They were going to lose Chromia if Ironhide did not stay with her until her systems were preforming at optimal levels. Optimus understood that and he was painfully aware that he would lose two of his best warriors, but he could not afford to divert his attention from his own situation with Elita, not to mention the mounting losses because of this situation._

_It was a catch-22: _

_If Megatron continued to gain all the information and secrets that he could wrench from Elita One's CPU, the Autobots were going to lose the war. If he finally decided to just kill Elita, Optimus Prime would die. _

_If Chromia died, Ironhide would die. _

_The Autobots could not afford to lose __**any **__of them, and they could not afford to lose any more battles. The Autobots were willing to claim any victory over the Decepticons, however it came._

_Optimus had to focus on finding Elita. For the time being, the more Decepticons Ironhide could kill, the better. However, Optimus left it up to Ratchet to find a way to get through to Ironhide about Chromia's waning health._

_And Ratchet tried just about everything, from conventional to unconventional. He was determined that Chromia was not going to die. She was going to make it, and he was willing to do anything to make sure._

_During the earliest stages of the recovery, all Ratchet had to do was argue with Ironhide and Ironhide would eventually do what he was told. However, now it was all Ratchet could do to get him to listen to him at all. He tried talking to him. He tried telling him that what he was doing was hurting Chromia. He tried to get Ironhide to see and face his fears, but everything that Ratchet said to him didn't seem to be getting through._

_Then, they'd had to resort to physically forcing them. Ratchet did not like having to do that. It was difficult for all involved. Thus far, they'd only done it once..._

888888888888888

_Ironhide had been gone longer than usual. Nightfire had been transferring energy to Chromia via her CPU port for several orns, much to Chromia's continued distress. However, Nightfire was the only medic that Chromia would allow to even touch her CPU port at all. _

_Ironhide eventually came back, but whether that was from an underlying knowledge that Chromia was not okay, or Ratchet's words finally getting through to him, or just the need for his spark to seek out its other half, Ratchet wasn't sure._ _As soon as Ironhide walked into the med bay, Ratchet told him he had to join with Chromia. Ironhide went into her room and Ratchet gave them some time, but their sparks remained distant from each other, their frames seemingly content to just sit together. _

_Chromia was very obviously hiding her true condition from Ironhide. Ratchet went in to tell him otherwise, that Chromia's systems relied on Ironhide, but they both still adamantly refused to join. It was then that Ratchet called both Wheeljack and First Aid into the room._

_Ratchet told Ironhide and Chromia what he intended to do. He even gave them a choice to join on their own._

_"Either way, you're going to join right now. So, what's it going to be?" Ratchet said to them._

_Neither one of them actually said anything. They looked away from Ratchet and away from each other._

_It took both Ratchet and Wheeljack to hold onto Ironhide while First Aid held onto Chromia. Ironhide and Chromia struggled, but their chestplates opened automatically, much to Ratchet's relief. Having to pry open their chestplates while holding them down was going to be the most difficult part. The fact that it happened automatically was a testament to how much their sparks needed each other. The three medics basically just pushed the two sparks together._

_The tension from the struggle and the tension released from the sudden contact of the two desperate sparks caused a small explosion that blew both Ratchet and Wheeljack away from Ironhide. However, Ironhide's spark latched on to Chromia's and the joining was successful and complete._

888888888888888

_While the joining was successful, Ratchet now had yet another patient. He had escaped the explosion pretty much unscathed. Wheeljack, on the other hand, took the full brunt of it. Wheeljack had been burned worse than this before, but it did knock him off his feet for an orn or so._

_During his rounds, Ratchet went in to check on Wheeljack._

_"Why is it that every time there is an explosion, you are the one that gets hurt?" Ratchet asked him as he ran a scan over Wheeljack's burns._

_"Well, Ratch," Wheeljack replied good-naturedly. "You know how much I like explosions. This one just caught me by surprise, that's all."_

_As Ratchet finished looking over Wheeljack, he knew this method of 'coerced-joining' wasn't going to work. The explosion took them all by surprise. He couldn't risk anyone else getting hurt. Now, Ironhide was just avoiding him entirely and the experience didn't seem to make Ironhide and Chromia any more willing to join on their own than before. Ratchet had to think of something else._

_Upon leaving Wheeljack, Ratchet ran into Nightfire...who maintained a facade of outer composure, as composed as a snappy Decepticon could look...when, actually, she was struggling more and more...taking it one orn at a time, sometimes even only one joor at a time. However, Ratchet didn't know that. _

_Wheeljack had been giving her the magnetic pulse therapy quite regularly and, as far as Ratchet was concerned, she seemed to be handling her sparkshock just fine. He thought that her sense of purpose might have been what was preserving her spark for longer than the others._

_"I don't understand why it is so difficult to get them to join," Ratchet's voice interrupted Nightfire's thoughts. "Bonded sparks want to be whole. There is a natural need for them to merge. Why are they fighting that?"_

_What struck Nightfire the most about it, since she understood what it was like to be bonded, was how they __**could **__fight that urge. It was a strong need and desire for every bonded spark to be whole. Being able to deny that wasn't easy to do. A jolt of pain coursed through her chest at the mere thought of being whole._

_Nightfire was not involved in the struggle to get Ironhide and Chromia to join, at least not directly. She was very involved with Chromia's health and helping her to accept what had happened, but she could not bear to watch any spark join with another. Her own spark would never be whole again. The pain it caused her to even know every time that they had finally merged was too much. _

_Nightfire tried to occupy herself with other things during those times. When she couldn't handle keeping her facade, she found a quiet corner to anguish in, alone and desperate. The Decepticon in her wouldn't allow anyone to know how much she was suffering. The medic in her was very happy that Chromia would gain strength after every joining and she dutifully monitored Chromia's systems once Ironhide was out of the way, all the while her spark pulsing in agony._

_"There has to be something there that wasn't there before," Nightfire responded to Ratchet's query, doing her best to ignore her tormented spark. She wasn't sure if Ratchet actually expected her to answer, but now that she had, he looked like he was listening._

_Nightfire wasn't quite sure how it would be, herself, since she had never had a sparkling, but she knew what it was like to be bonded and that a bonded pair essentially created their own universe. Several femme creators at Floatilla had told her that their sparklings had become a part of that universe in one form or another, so that was undoubtedly the case for all Cybertronian creators, including Ironhide and Chromia._

_"Think of joined sparks as having their own universe," Nightfire explained. "Everything that each sparkmate feels and does is reflected in that universe. Perhaps their sparkling was like a star, or a galaxy, in their universe and...well, now he's a black hole..."_

_"Primus," Ratchet whispered._

_If that was the case, this was only going to get more and more difficult. He was going to have to come up with something that would shock them into staying together. Otherwise, they'd continue avoiding each other and denying their own sparks because of what they were dealing with when they merged, because of what they were dealing with in their inner universe. _

_Ratchet had no idea how to heal that universe, but if he didn't get Chromia's outer being healed, their inner universe didn't stand a chance._

8888


	30. The Prime

**posted Sept. 28, 2008**

[EDIT on June 5, 2009: I started replying to reviews at this chapter's ANs. I want to show people my appreciation for reviewing. Since doing so makes the ANs super long, I am moving the review thank yous/replies to my journal after about two weeks time, in order for the reviewers to have time to see them before they are moved. Review replies for chapter 29 have been moved to the 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' link on my biopage.]

Disclaimer: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Huge thanks goes to **Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **Lady Tecuma **from **'Sparks and Plasma,' 'Curse of The Little Feet,' **and **'Guns And Cyber Roses.' **

Thanks a million to the reviewers of chapter 29: **TransFlashbacks, Jadedfalcom, flamingmarsh, Kesera, Bluebird Soaring, CuteKittten, Dragowolf, Violetlight, Xerios, lady tecuma, xCubicZirconia, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Hearts of Eternity, **and** Lecidre. **

In case anyone thinks it is interesting, here are the countries all my visitors and reviewers have been from throughout the month of September: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Finland, Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, Costa Rica, Poland, Czech Revar, New Zealand, Italy, Austria, Singapore, Philippines, Norway, Indonesia, Chile, and Denmark. WOW!! Ya'll simply blow me away. I'm amazed this story has reached such a worldwide audience.

Caution: Yea, another one...I think I have a strong reader base that can handle pretty much anything I throw at them, but I thought I'd warn you a bit on this chappie too. This one contains Cybertronian violation. It isn't the same as what we think of as 'violation,' but it might be disturbing to some, nonetheless. All I ask is that you please refrain from flaming me. That is not going to help me improve anything. This chapter is tastefully done, but if you don't like it, there are plenty of stories on fanfiction that I'm sure you'd enjoy. There is a reason for this chapter that affects Ironhide and Chromia and even the future of Bumblebee. All of this stuff is interrelated. It'll all become clear as we go along...That's part of what makes a story so interesting (winks), which I hope you all think it still is.

This chapter was very difficult to write, as I had a hard time conveying what it would be like inside of Optimus's head, along with Elita, Megatron, and Nightfire. As such, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Hopefully you will be too.

Thanks to **Hearts of Eternity **and **lady tecuma **for reading over this and giving me pointers and advice. And thanks, Hearts, for the encouragement not to compromise the work over my concerns with how this would be viewed. I haven't skimped on it at all.

This entire chapter is a flashback that follows after chapter 29.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 30

The Prime

by Litahatchee

_Optimus Prime..._

_Every time she saw him, she still could not believe that she had done it. She had pledged her life to the Prime..._

_He was the very core of what she had always known as the enemy. Every moment spent with him became so surreal that she could scarcely recall how this had become her reality._

_She had pledged her life to the Prime...She constantly had to remind herself of this fact. It was different with Ratchet and the others. They were either medics or patients to her, somehow the lines between those fighting in the war and those wounded in the war, or those helping the wounded, becoming obscure and undefinable._

_But Prime...Prime was always a slap in the face. She had always blamed him for the war to begin with. Those patients, whether she was at Floatilla or in Iacon, were wounded because of him. Even with the ultimate betrayal by Megatron, whom she had so believed in, she still could not shake that underlying blame from her CPU._

_She had pledged her life to the Prime...the one who she had always believed started this war. She had come to understand that her accusation was false, but she still couldn't help but think that he wasn't entirely innocent. As far as she was concerned, both he and Megatron were to blame._

_They were all pawns for a war between these two beings. How different Cybertron would be if Optimus and Megatron were never on it. All of their lives were affected, or being affected, by the actions of these two. For Nightfire, she had pledged what was left of her life to the Prime...and Megatron had taken her sparkmate from her._

_However, there were moments...moments of such clarity that they seized her spark with resolve and purpose. She had had an agenda, a desire for revenge that kept her motivated, kept her going. But, as time passed, even this was becoming obscure to her, the actions of those around her redefining her purpose, re-clarifying her resolve._

_One such moment came the next time that the Prime called on her. It had become routine for each time that Megatron was actively tapping Elita One. Nightfire would rush to Optimus's quarters, followed closely by Ratchet. Or, Optimus would come to her. Either way, Ratchet was always present. Ratchet used the excuse that he was there to make Optimus comfortable, but Prime always refused any medical relief from him. Since Elita wasn't getting help, he sure as Pit didn't want any. So, there was no reason for Ratchet to be there, other than the fact that she knew he didn't really trust her to be alone with the Prime._

_If Prowl ever had any say in the matter, Nightfire was certain there would be a mediary bot, that she would never even have access to Prime. Prime didn't broadcast when he was calling her, so Prowl was effectively out of the loop. The only reason Ratchet knew was because they essentially worked together. Despite everything, Ratchet was still very wary of her. She was okay with that, though. Truth be told, she was wary of him too, so the feeling was mutual._

_It had been Nightfire's idea to use Prime's bond with Elita One to locate her. When Megatron tapped Elita, Optimus would be able to see what she was seeing through Megatron. Elita was usually blindfolded, but not always, and Megatron was never blindfolded, so Optimus could always look through his optics._

_Nightfire would ask Prime to look around and to ask Elita One to look around and to use whatever method necessary to look through Megatron if her vision was blocked. Nightfire needed Prime to provide her with descriptions; descriptions of the area, of Elita's surroundings, of anything he could catch from Megatron. Whatever she could use to recognize where Elita could possibly be at that moment. It was very difficult for them to do and very frustrating for Nightfire as, most of the time, they concentrated on keeping Elita One's firewalls up and the connection would be terminated before Prime could provide her with any descriptions. Other times, Megatron would catch on to what Optimus was doing and break the connection before Optimus could get a good look. Because of this, Megatron had started moving Elita around, making it that much more difficult for Optimus's spies to retrieve her._

_Nightfire countered by asking for any information Elita could provide of what she saw or heard since the last tapping, anything Nightfire could use to hopefully recognize where Elita had been. If she could figure out where all she had been moved to and from, she could get a general idea of where she had been or where she could possibly be going next._

_Mirage and his team were forever on the trail to find Elita, never quite making the mark, but always ready if and when the opportunity presented itself. The leads they got came from Nightfire after these "sessions" with Prime. Elita One was deep within Decepticon territory. Nightfire wasn't necessarily privy to everything about the Decepticon stronghold, and a lot of times she couldn't even provide a lead at all, but with what she knew, with her knowledge of what Deluge knew, and with what Mirage and the Autobot spies knew, they could always come up with some idea of where to look next. In this way, Nightfire had become a valuable asset._

_During one particularly bad session where Optimus was no longer answering her, Nightfire knew exactly what she had to do. Optimus was clearly incapable of providing her with the information she needed. At that point, she did not care that he was who she believed was the cause of the war. The fact that he was rendered so vulnerable through the abuse of his bond with his mate disturbed her. It had to stop..._

_In a rare moment of clarity, Nightfire's CPU interface cable unwound itself from her wrist as she went to grip the back of the Prime's neck. The method of simply asking questions for him and Elita to describe the surroundings had become cumbersome and difficult for Nightfire to follow, anyway. Seeing for herself would clarify things greatly..._

_A yellowish-green hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her arm, pulling her away before the connection could be made._

_"What are you doing?!" Ratchet demanded._

_"What does it look like I'm doing?" Nightfire snapped back, irritated that she had been interrupted, a sudden urgency welling up inside of her to get this done quickly before the connection with Megatron was broken._

_"I am not going to allow you to tap Optimus Prime," Ratchet's anger was barely contained. That she would even think of such a thing was wholly appalling to him._

_"This is the only way I can get the information I need," Nightfire glared at him._

_Ratchet glared back, clearly not willing to allow her to just 'get the information I need.' He wasn't entirely sure what other information she might get while she was in there. She had done nothing to indicate that she was still loyal to the Decepticon cause, but she had done very little to indicate any loyalty at all towards the Autobots. She was a damn good medic, and he was appreciative of her help with his patients, but that was all in her programming and somewhat compulsory. Ratchet just wasn't sure what she was capable of beyond that. He knew she had no love for Optimus Prime and suddenly having access to his CPU could prove to be too much of a temptation to harm the leader._

_On the other hand, it would be the very best way for her to get an idea of where Elita could possibly be. She would be able to use the bond to see what she needed to see._

_Nightfire continued to stare at him as Ratchet wrestled with his thoughts. "You are going to have to trust me," she said after some length._

_Ratchet released her arm. "You do realize that, after this, you will not be allowed to leave this base."_

_Nightfire pursed her lip-components, as if in thought, before saying, "We'll see about that." She had never even tried to leave, but she refused to think that she was a free-reigning prisoner. As far as she was concerned, this did not change any arrangement she had with any of them._

_Nightfire reached for the Prime's neck again, but this time, Prime pulled back. He didn't say anything, as he was clearly caught up in whatever was happening through his bond, but the action was clear, he did not want her in his mind._

_Ratchet stepped in again, "Okay, that's it. The answer is 'no.'"_

_Nightfire ignored Ratchet, grabbing Prime's face between her hands and forcing him to look her in the optics._

_"Listen to me," she said, "I can find her, but you are going to have to let me in."_

_Optimus pulled free of her hands, but she quickly caught his face again. "Trust me," she whispered, "I only need access to Elita One."_

_Optimus wasn't entirely sure why he allowed it. He was desperate to free Elita, willing to do whatever it took to find her, but that wasn't why he allowed the interface. There was something in her optics that he had never seen before. She had never given him any reason not to trust her, but at that moment, he knew that he could trust her with his deepest secrets. He nodded his head once, shuttering his optics._

_Nightfire made the connection and was immediately struck with the Prime's anger. Optimus was shaking from shear anger of his brother fragging with his mate's mind and Megatron was enjoying every moment of it, taunting him mercilessly. At first, Nightfire was confused. It was an odd tap, as Megatron wasn't looking for information at all this time. Instead, he wanted Optimus to hate him and he wanted Optimus to tell him he hated him. Optimus refused to say it, no matter what he did to Elita and no matter how much of a backlash Optimus could feel through their bond because of it._

_While Nightfire composed herself from the rush of Optimus's extreme anger, she realized that there was no hate behind it whatsoever. Megatron was giving the Prime every reason to hate him, but Optimus couldn't say what he didn't feel. Nightfire was dumbfounded._

_She had always heard that Prime was a noble being. The Autobot family units on Floatilla had gushed about him all the time. However, her own Decepticon beliefs of who and what he was prevented her from doing nothing more than shut them out of her mind and shake her head at their woeful plight and stupidity. What they said were nothing but fanciful thoughts by both femme and youngling alike that the Prime was the true Guardian. Plus, what they were saying was just too unreal for her to believe; no one could be that noble. However, what she felt in his mind could never be a more solid confirmation that what they had said was true._

_What she actually found was that what they had always said was only a fraction of who he truly was. Once she could get over her own surprise, Nightfire got a true picture of Optimus Prime. His mind was weighed down by the heavy responsibility he felt for all Cybertronians. However, this weight was kept buoyant by his boundless kindness and generosity, by benevolence and wisdom that were second to none. She was particularly caught off guard by how honorable he was. He had a quiet strength about him that she couldn't even fathom. Above all, she felt his love...un-ending, profound, vivid, all-encompassing love...for his mate and even for Megatron, whom he had never stopped loving as a brother._

_Nightfire was also taken aback by the brother bond...Optimus and Megatron had been close, very close. How on Cybertron had it come to this between them? Optimus had still been open to the bond and had welcomed Megatron back whenever Megatron had reestablished his link before Floatilla. While Optimus was still open to the bond, Megatron was not. After this, though, Optimus wouldn't be, either._

_Optimus felt ultimate, unfathomable, betrayal by his brother. Even in that, there was still no hatred. There was only...sadness. It was a sadness so vast and deep that it had become ingrained, integrating itself into his very character; a sad, honorable, noble, loving being._

_Optimus Prime did not start the war. In fact, he was powerless to stop it. The ultimate break down was beyond his control. Megatron, on the other hand, was as power-hungry as they came...and he was obsessed with breaking his brother._

_Capturing Elita One was almost as good as capturing the AllSpark. Megatron could not use her to produce soldiers to use for his own purposes, like he would be able to use the AllSpark for. However, she was the vehicle to both breaking his brother's insanely noble spirit and to winning battles against the Autobots, perhaps even, ultimately, the war. The AllSpark would be available for him soon enough. She currently did not know where the AllSpark was, as Optimus had moved it since her capture, but her insight into the way Optimus's CPU worked would reveal to Megatron at least an idea of where to look if he ever decided he wanted it sooner rather than later, unless he simply won the war first. However, before that, he wanted to make Optimus suffer..._

_And even through it all; through the war and through the abuse of Elita, there was...forgiveness. This Optimus was a true Prime._

_Nightfire was thoroughly repulsed and disgusted by what her former leader was doing to such a being. It was a sick game. Once again, she was stretched to the limits of her realm of believability. How could Megatron be capable of doing this? Had he lost his mind completely? It only further solidified her resolve to help the Prime find his mate. It suddenly became about sparkmates more than about the fact that the Autobots wouldn't win the war without him...more than her own desire for revenge. No sparkmate should have to endure their bond being used against them in such a way, not even her worst enemy._

_Megatron was showing what a weakness sparkmates were. Through all of it, however, neither Optimus nor Elita believed that. They still saw the strength and, an effect Megatron did not intend, they were helping each other through it. It was inspiring to Nightfire. Sparkmates were to be cherished. This type of bond could not end on Cybertron._

_Nightfire found a renewed sense of purpose. She was personally going to make sure that any spark-bonded pair that could be spared was going to be...starting with the Prime and Elita One...and in no way less, Ironhide and Chromia._

_There was a spike of alarm from Elita as she felt the new presence within her and Optimus's bond. Elita recoiled from the questioning presence. Optimus immediately soothed her as best he could, "It's okay. Someone is here to help." Sensing something new in the link, Megatron tried to ascertain what it was, but was swiftly blocked by both Prime and Nightfire._

_Nightfire realized that she didn't know what Elita One looked like. She found a file of images in Prime's CPU and opened it. A shock of recognition from Nightfire swept through the link. Nightfire knew that Elita must have been at Floatilla, as that was where she was captured after all. However, Nightfire did not know that it was the other Autobot femme that had fought with her and Chromia._

_Nightfire could feel Elita's despair, her utter dismay. But, there was a glimmer of something...It was hope. Through it all, Elita had never lost hope. The hope swelled upon hearing Optimus's soothing declaration that this new presence was there to help them. Once again, Nightfire was taken aback, momentarily distracted by the positive disposition of this femme._

_Nightfire projected a memory of her fighting with Elita at Floatilla. Another shock of recognition, this time from Elita, coursed through the link, accompanied by a memory from Elita of Megatron holding up the Decepticon femme in the plaza at Floatilla, about to tear out her spark. Elita's memory rushed through clips of Deluge and his death. There was a rush of pain-filled emotions from Nightfire as she was forced to relive it. Optimus was shocked, having never really known what had happened to her. Both Optimus and Elita gasped from a spike of intense pain that was suddenly projected from the 'Con femme. A flood of sympathy that Nightfire would never have felt from her own faction, much less ever expecting it from an Autobot, and the Autobot bonded to Prime, no less, to include the Prime, overwhelmed her. In her intense shock and pain, Nightfire broke the connection..._

_Optimus swiftly reached out and grabbed her before she could move away from him._

_"No, wait...Please...Try again," he encouraged, pulling her towards him, giving her little room to protest._

_The pleading look in his optics coupled with what she now knew him to truly be made her relent. When she connected again, Nightfire was a lot more guarded, a lot more closed. She had not expected that and she was a lot more determined to find out what she needed and get out of there..._

_Feeling the presence in Elita again, Megatron tried to find it, but Nightfire was able to elude him with both Elita and Optimus's help. Their firewalls were strong, but Megatron had proven time and again that he could break through them, so it was only a matter of time._

_Nightfire realized that Elita was not blindfolded. She asked her to look at her surroundings so that she may see through Elita's optics. Elita tried, sending Nightfire images, files, and even voice recordings from previous places. Her concentration was suddenly broken as Megatron took something else he wanted._

_Everything through the connection became chaos at that point; a myriad of hurtful, sadistic emotions pouring from Megatron, mixing with Elita's despair and Optimus's pain and anger. Their firewalls faltered and Megatron was getting closer to finding out this new development in the bond. Nightfire was certain that Megatron was laughing._

_Optimus still did not project hate. Even of all the negative emotions flowing from Elita at that point, hate was not one of them. However, Nightfire felt hate...a boiling hatred that raged within her, coursing through her energon as the deepest loathing she had ever experienced._

_Angry, frustrated, and full of malice, Nightfire told Elita to let down her firewalls. Optimus tensed up, uncertain of this new development within Nightfire's presence. She quickly convinced him that she could briefly look into Megatron's CPU if Megatron were shocked enough that he'd briefly let down his own firewalls. She told him that Megatron would be shocked enough for her to do that if Optimus and Elita were to both let down their firewalls at the same time. Trusting her, Optimus tentatively removed his firewalls, getting Elita to do the same._

_Nightfire was suddenly fully aware of everything within the bond and free to move about as she wished. Megatron was, indeed, surprised by the sudden removal of the firewalls he was fighting so hard to break through, but not surprised enough for his own firewalls to come down._

_Too late, Optimus detected Nightfire's intentions. She hadn't completely lied, as the shock value to bring down Megatron's firewalls was real, but she __**had**__ taken advantage of their vulnerability in order to get at the Decepticon leader. She had deceived them; she was a Decepticon after all...but, as far as she was concerned, it was for their own good. What she did next would be the shocking surprise that she truly intended._

_Every vengeful thought she possessed materialized in the forefront of her mind. Feeling the hatred she thought Optimus should be feeling, she projected her presence to Megatron, complete with files of who she was, including Deluge's loyalty that had turned out to be all for nothing._

_Megatron's awareness widened in recognition and the ensuing shock was exactly what Nightfire hoped for. His firewalls came down only for an astrosecond, but it was all she needed._

_Full of animosity, Nightfire said to him, "No matter what you do, you are going to lose this war. You will never live up to Prime's standards. You are not even close to being the leader that his is." Optimus Prime's soldiers fought for him with inspiration and passion, something the majority of Megatron's followers lacked. Optimus Prime was a true guardian and he would win out, she was sure of it._

_Nightfire proceded to taunt the Decepticon leader with the fact that a once-loyal Decepticon was now completely entrenched within the Autobot stronghold, so much so that this Decepticon had access to the very CPU of the Prime himself._

_Another type of anger gripping him, Optimus suddenly stood up, effectively breaking the connection. Nightfire found herself on the floor._

_"I will not be used as a vehicle for your revenge!" his voice shook the room. Even though they were no longer connected, she could feel the weight of his anger at her._

_Nightfire just stood up, nonchalantly brushing it off as if nothing at all happened. She even had the audacity to shrug._

_"Megatron does not intend to kill her," she said after a few moments, informing him of what she found when Megatron's firewalls fell. "He doesn't actually want you dead. He wants to make you suffer." She glanced up at him once he had composed himself. Then her optics drifted away as she thought to herself, 'Death would be a relief.'_

_She turned away, briefly catching Ratchet's horror-filled optics before making her way to the door. She paused in the doorway, turning her head slightly. As if it was just an afterthought, she revealed the vital piece of information that she was able to get from Megatron that they had all been looking for all along,_

_"She's at Trypticon."_


	31. Retribution

**posted Oct. 25, 2008**

[EDIT on June 5, 2009: all review responses for ch. 30 moved to the 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' link on my biopage]

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Giant thank you to the reviewers of chapter 30: **Bluebird Soaring, flamingmarsh, Xerios, Dragowolf, lady tecuma, CuteKittten, theshadowcat, Kesera, Transflashbacks, Lecidre, i-love-me-some-leggypoo **(for two reviews)**, **and **Hearts of Eternity.**

Huge thanks goes to **Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **Lady Tecuma. **The characters are different, but the name is hers.

**Lecidre **has made some really awesome fan art for this fic! I can't put a link on this page, but I added the link to her art on my bio-page if anyone wants to have a look.

**Recommendation**: There is an awesome story by **Xerios** called, **'File Recovery,' **that can totally fit as a companion story to this one. Xerios is using 'carrying' as well as the events of the Floatilla Massacre as they are depicted in 'Night Fire.' A couple of you were wondering, 'How DID Megatron get so bad?' Xerios has a fantastic tale on how Megatron fell so hard. I recommend that fic to all of the readers of 'Night Fire,' especially if you are interested to know what might have happened to Megatron, how, and why. It's a beautifully written fic with a Megatron-pairing, full of emotion that I'm sure you all will enjoy!

This chapter is a flashback that follows after the events of chapter 30.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 31

Retribution

by Litahatchee

_Neither one of them said a word to the other. They just sat in silence. Chromia was the one to finally break it._

_"Where have you been?"_

_Ironhide didn't answer for a moment, unsure of what she would think of his present activities. He knew her well enough to know that she'd support him, even want to join him, but he was fearful of how much she might have changed because of their loss. Would she continue to support his decisions, as irrational as they were most of the time? Ratchet had been correct about Ironhide's fears. He was so right that Ironhide was uncomfortable hearing him speak about it. However, he couldn't get Ratchet's voice out of his head._

_Ironhide glanced at Chromia, wondering if she was reading his discomfort through their bond. She remained distant, though. She didn't even bother to glance back. Ironhide decided he couldn't make things any worse than they were by answering her question._

_"Making them pay."_

_He very nearly growled it, sudden anger gripping him as he voiced to his sparkmate what he had been doing. His sparkmate; the very being that mattered to him more than anything, the very being who seemed shattered beyond what he thought he was capable of healing. He felt weak and helpless and he couldn't stand that she did also. Renewed feelings of vengeance sprung forth because of it. They did this to them, and they were going to regret it for as long as he lived._

_Upon hearing Ironhide's words, Chromia's spark lightly reached out for Ironhide's. Ironhide felt her pull and looked back up at her in surprise. A smile had formed across her features. It was sultry, a little bit sadistic, even. It would have been unnerving for anyone other than her mate. It was the first time he had seen her smile at all since Sunshadow's death. That smile..._

_...It was all the approval Ironhide needed. His spark suddenly leapt in his chassis, arousal nearly overwhelming him in his elation of her acceptance._

_"And?" she asked next, her spark finally openly calling for his._

_Ironhide moved closer, his excitement that she still supported his actions emanating from his spark. Perhaps there was nothing he needed to fear, after all. At that moment, she seemed to be the same Chromia that he bonded himself to; complete and whole...wild...uninhibited..._

_Reaching over, he grabbed her hand. He then placed it over his spark. "They're paying dearly..."_

_Chromia's spark nearly jumped out of her chassis. Feeling the sudden thrill that rolled through her systems and the overpowering need beneath it, Ironhide closed the distance between them. Before he could do anything else, she grabbed him and pulled him flush to her chest._

_A frenzied desire suddenly overtook them as they began to grope and pull on each other, their sparks begging to get closer. Ironhide began purring seductively as Chromia nibbled a support strut on his neck. Heat suddenly exploded between them as Ironhide's hands encompassed her chassis. He sent her a small magnetic pulse and she arched into him longingly, a soft sigh escaping her vents. She wanted him and he wanted her; this would be the first joining between them that hadn't been coaxed by Ratchet in some way._

_Ironhide pulled open her chassis, his need for her becoming crystal clear though their bond as he opened his own chassis. He dipped his chest towards hers..._

_...and then hesitated when he caught sight of the glaring scar. Doubt began to creep into his processor. Could he do this? What would they see this time? How could they avoid it? Could they avoid it? What if he was sucked into the black hole without her? What if she was pulled in without him? What would happen if he lost her there?_

_In regret of his inability to reach her in time, he reached down and lightly touched the scar, desperately wishing that he hadn't failed her. Chromia's intakes hitched sharply and her spark immediately withdrew from his. She sat up abruptly, pushing his hands away from her._

_"I...I can't," she said to him, her voice pained. "I don't want to see him," she continued, speaking of their sparkling._

_Ironhide pulled away from her, unable to suppress his own sorrow._

_"I don't want to see what he's become," Chromia whispered._

_The truth was, neither did Ironhide. Worse yet, he didn't want to see what Chromia had become either, and he was afraid of what she'd see that he had become. Anger swelled up within him until all he could think about was vengeance for what has happened to them. It was not only vengeance for his sparkling, but vengeance for Chromia, and vengeance for himself for all the changes they were having to suffer. He felt as if things were never going to be the same between he and his sparkmate again, and he hated the Decepticons for that._

_A new wave of vengeance pulsed through him and Ironhide stood up, growling as he slammed a fist into the nearby table. Chromia didn't flinch. She merely turned away from him, again._

_Ironhide had to get out of there, to find someone to take it all out on. Making his way to the door, Ironhide turned back to her, the unacknowledged concern for her true well-being taking hold of his spark, "Are you going to be...?"_

_"I'm fine, Ironhide!" she snapped at him, the lie hidden behind her vehemence, incredulous that he'd dare acknowledge her current weakness._

_He watched her a moment, unsure. He then slowly nodded his head before briskly making his exit. He was making them pay, alright...They weren't aware that it was even possible, but now he was even more angry than ever. He would have his retribution. Primus help the next Decepticon that crossed his path..._

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_Nightfire made her way back to the medical ward. She couldn't help but think about the weight of Cybertron that was on the Prime's shoulders. It was amazing how heavy that weight pushed down on that mech. On top of all that, he was now having to endure what his own brother was doing to Elita. Nightfire did not envy him._

_For the hundredth time, she went over what she learned when Megatron's firewalls came down during that brief moment. She was particularly interested in the amount of Decepticons that were defecting because of the Floatilla incident. The Decepticon faction may have had the upper hand over the Autobots, but many in the ranks were taking their lives elsewhere, whether that be Neutral, Autobot, or just leaving Cybertron altogether. They did not agree with the genocide of the supposed 'weak' of the population. Many of them desired family units of their own once the war was over._

_Nightfire did not divulge that tidbit of information to the Autobots. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it. She couldn't blame the defectors for wanting to seek out better lives. After all, wasn't that what she was doing, for what it was worth? However, what perplexed her was that some were leaving Cybertron. She wondered if, one day, it would become so bad that they would ALL have to leave Cybertron. She hoped not..._

_Nightfire suddenly ran headlong into something very large, very solid, and very black. Her first reaction was that of extreme annoyance for some mech to be taking up the entire hallway. There was a reason that one always walked to the right when walking down a hallway or corridor..._

_Then she looked up to give this mech a piece of her mind. She was in no mood to deal with mechs that couldn't follow common courtesy..._

_...Nightfire's spark froze when she made eye contact with him. She couldn't explain her reaction. She was dying, so there was little reason to fear anything. However, that look on his face...all manor of murderous intent glowering from his optics...She shivered, regardless of her own assured fate._

_He was huge, much bigger than Deluge, and as intimidating as any Decepticon. A brief thought of where Ratchet was located occurred to her as she forced herself to remain calm. Wherever Ratchet was, he wasn't close enough to make Ironhide back off. She reminded herself, again, that there was no reason to fear this mech...She was dying anyway. She narrowed her eyes at him._

_"Where are you going?" she asked, her voice as confident as ever, showing no fear, and clearly not wanting him to leave Chromia no matter how fearful she truly was for her own well-being. "Stop this charade right now. I think that you know she needs you," she continued, even as his optics flashed and she became fairly certain that he may very well kill her right then._

_He took a menacing step towards her, and Nightfire tensed, but she didn't back down. They glared at each other and with each passing moment Nightfire was increasingly aware that he could easily reach out and crush her cranial-unit with his bare hands. She reminded herself, a third time, that it didn't matter, she was dying anyway. She even relaxed, accepting whatever method he may use to end her misery._

_Suddenly, something changed in his stance. She wasn't sure if it was her own sudden change in her demeanor that might have taken him off guard, or if he simply decided to accept her presence there at that moment. She had been helping Chromia immensely, after all. His optics seemed to soften, but only marginally so. Nightfire dared to take her optics off of him and glance around to see if the sudden change might have been due to Ratchet's possible presence. She didn't see Ratchet, though, so she brought her optics back to bare on Ironhide's._

_"We have already joined," Ironhide said to her, actually answering her query._

_The look of surprise on Ironhide's face that he had just spoken to her was not lost to either one of them. Nightfire quickly recovered from her own surprise, taking the opportunity to press the issue as Chromia's medic._

_"You have got to stay here. One joining isn't going to help. You're going to need to set up a regular joining schedule with her."_

_Ironhide actually looked like he was considering her words. Maybe it was guilt, perhaps even concern, but whether it was guilt over Chromia or guilt for his unwarranted disdain for Nightfire, who he knew had lost her sparkmate the same as he had lost his sparkling, or both, Nightfire was not sure. Then, just as quickly as his demeanor changed the first time, his optics hardened again._

_"Out of my way, Nightfire," he said as he shouldered past her, making no move to harm her at all._

_"You know my name," Nightfire said to his retreating form, her own demeanor falling back into her disapproval of him, unable to mask the cynicism rising in her voice, "I must mean something to you."_

_Ironhide suddenly turned around and Nightfire regretted her sarcasm, but only a tiny bit._

_"You mean absolutely nothing to me," he said as he moved towards her, his intimidating form pushing her up against the wall. "I hate everything that you stand for," he growled menacingly down at her._

_Nightfire decided that now wasn't a good time to goad him any further. He had obviously decided to accept her presence. There was no need to give him a reason to change his mind. She waited as he composed himself, and it didn't take long for him to walk away again._

_She watched him go, wondering what Chromia saw in him. He was dangerous...to __**everybody**__, including himself. He shouldn't have been allowed to walk freely on the streets of Cybertron, no matter which faction he belonged to._

_He was soon at the other end of the hallway with plenty of distance between he and Nightfire. Unable to stop herself, and not really wanting to if she could, Nightfire called after him._

_"Thanks for clearing that up!" All mannar of sarcasm dripped from her voice, "I didn't catch it before!"_

_As he disappeared around a corner, every bit of energy that Nightfire still possessed simply drained from her. She sagged against the wall as her spark seized up painfully. Her spark had just started having these seizures, and she dealt with them the same way she'd been dealing with her loss all along: alone. Every now and then she'd allow Wheeljack to give her the magnetic pulse therapy, but she never let on that it was getting worse._

_Nothing was working out as she had hoped. Thus far, she was successful in helping Prime find his sparkmate, but infiltrating Trypticon was going to take nothing short of a miracle. Now, watching Chromia wither away as Ironhide continued his damnable venge-quest, killed her own desire for revenge. At first, she was okay with it, secretly happy, even...The more of those bastards he got, the better she seemed to feel. However, she had no idea he'd lose focus, that he'd lose himself so much that he'd neglect the very thing he was seeking revenge for: Chromia. Nightfire no longer sought retribution. She just wanted it all to end. And, unlike herself, Chromia had a real chance at survival, but having her mate was imperative._


	32. Deja Vu

**posted Nov. 8, 2008**

[EDIT on June 5, 2009: all review responses for ch. 31 have been moved to the 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' link on my biopage]

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Huge thank you to the reviewers of ch. 31: **Bluebird Soaring, flamingmarsh, plenoptic, CuteKittten, Xerios, Dragowolf, TransFlashbacks, Lecidre, Violetlight, Kesera, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Hearts of Eternity, **and **lady tecuma. **

**Total visiting countries **for the month of **October**, by order of most to least hits: USA, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Netherlands, Sweden, Argentina, Finland, UK, Puerto Rico, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Ireland, Italy, Costa Rica, Brunei, Venezuela, Spain, Russia, Web Proxy (?), Poland, Chile, Portugal, Belgium, Philippines, Denmark, Indonesia, and Brazil! Awesome! Thank you!

Thanks goes to **Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **Lady Tecuma. **The characters are different, but the name is hers.

'Terminal lock' is **Pheonix13's** term from her story '**Decisions.' **I have changed the idea around a lot to fit the purposes of this story, but I got the basic idea while reading that story. Thank you, once again, **Phoenix13,** for allowing me to use your ideas! You have so many good ones (smile).

**Lecidre **has made some really awesome fan art for this fic! I can't put a link on this page, but I added the link to her art on my biopage if anyone wants to have a look.

**Possible Companion Stories**: **'File Recovery' **and **'Conspiracy' **by **Xerios**. **'Sparkling' **and **'Youngling' **by **Karategal. **Karategal and I have been working to keep our fics in harmony with each other. I don't know what Xerios has planned for Elita and Chromia in her tales, nor what the future holds in her stories, but, thus far, all of our fics fit together. The past story that Xerios is putting together can totally fit with both my tales and Karategal's. If you would like to know more of the overarching story of Megatron and Bumblebee for this continuity, I highly recommend reading those stories.

This chapter is a flashback that follows after the events of chapter 31.

For the purposes of this story, 'Terminal Lock' is similar to when doctors stop a patient's heart during open heart surgery.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 32

Deja Vu

by Litahatchee

_Nightfire leaned down, again, to give Chromia another magnetic pulse. Chromia seemed fairly calm, just watching Nightfire as she went about monitoring her spark. Chromia was always in a better mood after she had joined. It certainly made Nightfire wonder why they fought it so much. It always helped them, but there was definitely something wrong...Nightfire did not know that they had almost joined on their own, but the joining that Ratchet, Wheeljack, and First Aid prompted seemed to be carrying Chromia through._

_Nightfire glanced down at her, a little disconcerted by her attentiveness._

_"You're thinking about him, aren't you?" Nightfire asked._

_Chromia wasn't sure which 'him' Nightfire was referring to, whether it be her sparkling or Ironhide, but she wasn't thinking about either one. She was thinking about Nightfire. Chromia felt that Nightfire was way too calm about losing her sparkmate. She could see that she was in pain, but she appeared to be serene, and she never said much about it at all._

_However, Chromia never saw Nightfire in her private moments, when she broke down in anguish, her spark crying out constantly. Nightfire was not near as calm and serene about it as she pretended to be. Nightfire just tried to limit her alone time to...never, if at all possible. If she could keep busy and focused on something else, she felt like she didn't have to face it._

_Though, now Nightfire was having a hard time getting her recharge program to run. Because of this, she was becoming increasingly exhausted. She could easily get either Ratchet or Wheeljack to connect to her systems and start the program for her, but the mere thought of doing that repulsed her. Having had both the Prime and his sparkmate reading her thoughts was enough to make her blow a fuse or two, but she had been the one who initiated the contact. The thought that one of these Autobots would have to initiate contact with her made her feel nauseated._

_That wasn't all that concerned her about such a thought, though. The fact that she was coming to realize that this was a learned reaction as a Decepticon was even more disconcerting for her. The condition still remained; someone was going to have to start the program for her. Whether or not it was an Autobot was irrelevant. She hadn't realized how deep her prejudices ran and, though she'd never admit it to another Decepticon, it was starting to bother her._

_Chromia continued to watch her as she shook herself. She fixed Chromia with a hard, even, expression._

_"Do you know where Ironhide is going?" she asked, leaving no room for Chromia to be wondering which 'he' she could be referring to._

_Chromia finally looked way._

_"No," she answered truthfully._

_Nightfire continued, "Do you know what he's been doing?"_

_"Yes," Chromia answered._

_Nightfire wasn't entirely sure, but she thought she saw Chromia's optics sparkle at that admission._

_"What he is doing is wrong," Nightfire said after a few moments._

_A wave of irritation washed over Chromia's features, "Don't give me that slag! You want revenge too, and I know it!"_

_Nightfire had accidentally broadcast her desires for revenge to Chromia during one of her energy transfers through Chromia's CPU port. Chromia knew all too well Nightfire's vengeful mindset. She wasn't about to allow the femme to start preaching to her about 'what he is doing is wrong.'_

_Nightfire stared at her, somewhat amused. Chromia immediately assumed that she was talking about Ironhide's thirst for revenge. Nightfire didn't give a fragging Quintesson's aft about who or what Ironhide killed. What she cared about was Chromia. What Ironhide was doing to Chromia was wrong, even if it was unintentional. Chromia had misinterpreted the statement, but Nightfire let her think what her Autobot CPU wanted her to think._

_As difficult as they were, they were starting to grow on her. She was really starting to like Chromia and as her feelings for her increased, so did her real concern, not just concern from her programming as a medic._

_"Since when does a 'Con care about right or wrong?" Chromia's biting tone cut through Nightfire's thoughts._

_Angered, Nightfire lashed back, "This doesn't have anything to do with revenge, _

_Chromia! It has absolutely nothing to do with Autobots and Decepticons! It has to do with survival!"_

_Nightfire let that sink into Chromia's CPU and when Chromia didn't respond, she continued, "Without Prime, I think the Autobots would split into factions. THAT would screw things up even more!"_

_Chromia ignored her comments, concern for Elita putting things into perspective for her._

_"How's he doing?" Chromia asked, dropping the argument immediately._

_Caught a bit off-guard, Nightfire hesitated. Chromia knew that Nightfire had been helping to locate Elita, but Chromia didn't know how in depth that had gone recently. Nightfire didn't know if Chromia knew that they had, indeed, found Elita, but that getting to her was near impossible._

_Megatron knew every move Optimus would make, was able to anticipate every tactic. He had access to virtually every secret that Optimus possessed. They were having to come up with new strategies, which was taking time. Optimus knew Megatron had everything he wanted. It was only a matter of time, now. Megatron was toying with him. It was no longer enough to simply kill that which Optimus needed the most for his own survival. Megatron wanted Optimus to suffer, and suffer he did._

_"He's...maintaining," Nightfire answered, meaning that he was barely hanging on, but he was hanging on._

_"Have you found her yet?" Chromia asked softly._

_"We have. They're working on a plan to get her out." With Nightfire's words, Chromia brightened a little. Nightfire decided not to elaborate on the details of the impossibilities, instead allowing Chromia to feel the first bit of hope she'd had since this whole ordeal began. Chromia needed that, and Nightfire wasn't about to complicate it for her._

_"Please hurry," Chromia said, "You're right, you know. We need him."_

_Nightfire placed a comforting hand on Chromia's shoulder, squeezing slightly. She nodded her head._

_"Why did you do it? Help Optimus, I mean," Chromia asked out of curiosity. She knew that Nightfire had no love for their Prime, but she was certainly putting forth a lot of effort to help him._

_Nightfire shrugged, "Because he's the only one that can stop Lord Megatron."_

_A small, sardonic, smile formed on Chromia's face. "So," she said, "It __**is**__ for revenge."_

_Nightfire really couldn't rebuff her statement. A part of her still wanted it. Her faceplates broke into a smile that matched Chromia's, "I never said I wasn't a hypocrite."_

_They sat in companionable silence for awhile, each lost in her own thoughts. Nightfire thought about Ironhide and Chromia. Even though they had everything taken away, they still had each other. They got to experience something truly wonderful, and Nightfire regretted that she'd never get the chance. Nightfire had always wanted a sparkling. She'd give anything just to have a glimpse of what that was like, even if she were to lose it._

_Chromia decided to voice her thoughts._

_"How do you do it?" she almost whispered, watching Nightfire intently, "Without Deluge?"_

_Nightfire didn't say anything for almost a full breem. Chromia didn't push her, and decided not to say anything more if Nightfire didn't answer. Chromia was beginning to realize that her earlier assessment, that Nightfire was dealing with her loss in virtual tranquility, was way off. Chromia thought that Nightfire might break down, but she didn't. She seemed to be fighting it._

_"I..." Nightfire started, her voice sounding weak to Chromia for the first time, "...keep him here." She pointed to her CPU. "...And here." She placed her hand over her spark. "He lives within me, within my memory of him...and within my spark." She suddenly looked Chromia directly in the optics, "Like your sparkling lives within you."_

_Chromia wasn't at all surprised at Nightfire's redirectioning of the conversation, but she wasn't sure how to respond, or if she even wanted to at all. After a moment, she did, and it felt strangely good._

_"Sunshadow," Chromia's voice was barely a whisper._

_"What?" Nightfire asked._

_"His name..." Chromia couldn't say 'was,' she just couldn't, "Sunshadow."_

_Nightfire smiled. It was good that Chromia could say his name._

_"Sunshadow lives within you," Nightfire repeated, using the sparkling's name._

_"He does, you know," Chromia said after a moment, "but 'living' is not what we call it."_

_Nightfire's theory that there was something going on in their joinings due to their loss was confirmed with that statement._

_"You and Ironhide have to work that out, together."_

_Unfortunately, as Nightfire knew all too well, being a bonded couple, they depended on joining to survive. Perhaps the medics could talk them through whatever they were dealing with on the inside, she wasn't sure. Perhaps what Ratchet had already said to Ironhide and what Nightfire was saying to Chromia would sink in and help them, even if it was just frustratingly a little bit. However, in the end, it would be up to Ironhide and Chromia to help each other through their inner universe. No one but them could know what that was like. It was for them and them alone._

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_"Did he hurt you?" Ratchet asked Nightfire an orn later. _

_Ratchet hadn't said a whole lot to her since the incident with Optimus, deciding the best thing would be not to address it. If Optimus wasn't saying anything about it, he sure as Pit wasn't going to either. However, Ratchet knew Nightfire had run into Ironhide, and he also knew she was hiding more about her condition than she let on. She had to be. There was no way she was doing as well as she acted, not if the rest of the bonded patients was any indicator. The ones that were left were doing terrible. Every time he tried to scan her, she blocked him with some damnable disruptor that she was equipped with. So, if Ironhide __**had**__ hurt her, he wouldn't necessarily know about that either._

_"Oh, we met in the hall, had a few laughs, and shared a cube of energon together," Nightfire quipped._

_Ratchet folded his arms over his chassis, clearly not in a joking mood...not that he ever was in a joking mood._

_"Did he hurt you?" he said again, a little slower and a little sterner._

_Nightfire actually laughed at his changed tone, as if __**that**__ would make her understand the question better. Ratchet fixed her with a hard gaze._

_"Do you really think I'd be standing here if he hurt me?" she asked with a grin, but in all seriousness. If Ironhide had so much as laid a finger on her, Ratchet would already know it, as the damage would have been entirely too extensive for her to hide away. When that mech went to injure someone, he probably only had one setting; destroy._

_Ratchet narrowed his optics, and then tried to sneak a scan on her. Already anticipating it, her disruptor was turned on. He sighed in frustration._

_"He didn't even try to hurt me," Nightfire relented. "I'm fine, Ratchet," she assured him._

_Ratchet just looked at her suspiciously. She didn't look fine... He could tell that something was wrong. It seemed that her current state came about since her run-in with Ironhide, so his immediate assumption was that Ironhide had harmed her in some way. Perhaps, instead, it had to do with her lost sparkmate..._

_"You were saying about Chromia?" Nightfire diverted his attention away from her, and back to the subject at hand. She had no doubt that he'd hold her down and find out what was wrong with her if he didn't already have so much on his processor. A simple redirecting to one of those weighty issues was all that was needed._

_It worked..._

_"She asked me to remove her memory chip again," Ratchet said, clearly disturbed._

_Nightfire raised an optic ridge at him. Perhaps removing the chip wasn't a bad idea after all. She had done it to ease the suffering of younglings before. She had no doubt that Ratchet had performed the procedure for mechs in the Autobot army as well. Primus knew the efforts both she and Ratchet took to get Chromia through this. Through all their efforts, Chromia still tried to delete it. Nightfire sighed sadly. If they removed the chip, she wouldn't have to delete anything anymore. Sometimes there was just no other way for a bot to move on._

_"There's still the issue that every single memory she has of their sparkling is on that chip," Ratchet elaborated._

_"She could copy and save those files somewhere else, you know," she said._

_"She could, but she hasn't," Ratchet said. "I'm not removing the chip. She's going to need it to get through this with Ironhide."_

_Ironhide would never be able to get through his fears if Chromia did not even remember what they went through. The only way Ratchet would even consider removing the chip was if Ironhide agreed to have his own memory of the incident erased. Ratchet suspected that doing so would do little to help their inner universe. If anything, it'd probably make their joinings worse, because, then, they wouldn't even know why the void was happening._

_Nightfire wasn't sure what to say. Barely an orn ago, Chromia had told her the sparkling's name. She really felt like she was getting through to Chromia at that point. Every time she felt a sense of accomplishment that Chromia was doing better, something like this would be brought to her attention._

_Frustrated, Nightfire brushed passed Ratchet and headed towards Chromia's room. She was __**not **__going to let that femme forget her own sparkling._

_Equally frustrated, Ratchet tried to stop her. He wasn't finished speaking with her. There was still the issue of Ironhide being gone again. However, a plan was forming in his processor about what to do about that... There was only one thing that was going to work. He didn't have any other choice._

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_Nightfire tried being patient with Chromia, and eventually she got Chromia to admit what she had asked of Ratchet._

_"Ratchet said he wasn't going to do it," Chromia said._

_Nightfire suddenly had an idea. "Ratchet will not stop me from performing the procedure myself," she said._

_Chromia's head snapped up in surprise._

_"You would do that for me?" she asked, somewhat suspiciously._

_"Yes," Nightfire responded as reassuringly as possible._

_It was a lie. Nightfire was not going to remove the chip with Chromia's only memories of her sparkling on there, but there was a good reason for this deception. Nightfire snorted at the irony of her action, using her skill for something noble. However, she wanted Chromia to have the choice, to be forced to make the decision on her own. Ratchet flat out refusing only served to push Chromia away from having to make that decision. Not only that, but telling her 'no' would also only serve to make her more stubborn, wanting to get rid of it that much more. Giving her a choice would, hopefully, make her face what she would be losing and also what her sparkmate would be losing._

_"But listen to me very carefully," Nightfire continued, hopefully influencing Chromia's decision, "I want it gone, too. I would like nothing more than to have it all disappear. But, to do that would mean that I'd be rid of the good things too. We have to face it. It makes us who we are. We put the pieces together to make the whole. __**All **__of it is who we are, even the bad stuff."_

_Nightfire was starting to feel a bit of deja vu. It felt as if she had already said all this before. Somehow, she didn't think it'd be the last time she had to say it. If anything, she was going to get through to this femme, even if it was through repetition._

_Chromia felt so helpless. "Megatron is right. It is a weakness."_

_Nightfire forced air out of her vents in frustration, "It is not a weakness, Chromia. This is going to make you stronger." If Chromia could pull through this, she and Ironhide were going to be stronger than they ever were before. If they could face it together, they'd gain the strength they needed to overcome their internal struggles._

_"If you forget Sunshadow, Megatron has won," Nightfire continued. "You have to let yourself remember. It makes us who we are. Hold on and cherish it for what it is. Megatron did not destroy you, but if you do this, it'll be better than his sickest imagination. It will destroy who you are. And if he has destroyed you, he has destroyed Ironhide."_

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_Ratchet was waiting for her when she came out of Chromia's room. He looked as if he had come to some sort of decision._

_"Has she said where Ironhide has gone?" he asked._

_"She says she doesn't know," Nightfire answered._

_"If he is not back in two orns, put her in terminal lock." Ratchet left little room for argument. It was an order, plain and simple._

_Nightfire's optics widened in shock. She was certainly going to argue anyway._

_"Are you crazy?!" she exclaimed. "Do you even know what you're asking?!"_

_"I am not asking you; I'm telling you," Ratchet answered._

_Nightfire's jaw literally dropped before she ranted, "We're trying to save her, not kill her!"_

_Medics used terminal lock when performing the most delicate of procedures. During spark and CPU transfers, extensive spark operations, and extensive CPU operations, patients were put into terminal lock. When it was engaged, all of the patient's systems and functions would shut down...completely. A medic would be unimpeded by any functioning systems during such delicate procedures._

_It was beyond off-lining, beyond stasis. In stasis lock, a bot was kept in an unconscious state, systems considered unimportant for survival shutting down for longer preservation of the off-lined Cybertronian, the most important systems, such as the spark, still running. Stasis lock was an automatic program that was triggered when a Cybertronian lost too many of his/her functionality. It could also be run voluntarily if a bot needed to._

_With terminal lock, even systems vital for survival were shut down. It was not an automatic program, as a Cybertronian's base programming was that of survival. It could be triggered voluntarily, but bots rarely did that. A medic had to manually start the program within his patient. The patient was, then, virtually dead._

_As long as a bot wasn't kept in terminal lock for too long, a medic could revive him/her from it. For patients critically injured, it could even be used to shut down everything so as not to cause further injury to a patient that may be losing too much energon from, for example, a working pump trying to pump the energon throughout his/her system. That bot could then be rushed to a medical facility where the proper tools were available, operated on, and revived. It had to be done quickly, but there had been many cases of success._

_In the case of sparkmates, it was proven time and again that a sparkmate could revive his/her mate from terminal lock if/when a medic could not. The sparkmate did this simply by joining with his/her terminal locked mate._

_Terminal lock was risky. It was dangerous. Not everyone came out of it. However, it saved many lives._

_Ratchet did not put Chromia in terminal lock during her initial operation following Floatilla because she was too far gone already. He wasn't sure if even Ironhide would be able to revive her from it. However, now, though she was still weak, she was much stronger than she was before. As long as she didn't stay in terminal lock for too long, she'd be fine. It would be up to Ironhide how fast he got back to her. He'd know, immediately; through their bond, it would feel like she had died._

_Nightfire wasn't so sure, appalled that Ratchet was resorting to such a risky thing to evoke a joining between the two. "Ratchet, do you know what you're doing? This is not a good idea. She's too weak. We won't be able to revive her."_

_Ratchet walked right up to her, his optics determined, "Look, I am the CMO of the entire Autobot faction. I did not get to this position by being unknowledgeable about medical procedures. I might be best as a combat surgeon, but even combat has taught me that bonded patients can be brought out of terminal lock by their sparkmates."_

_Nightfire opened her mouth to say something else, but Ratchet interrupted her, saying, "Don't question my abilities. I don't question yours. Put her in terminal lock in two orns."_

_Ratchet turned around and began walking away, clearly giving her no more time to argue._

_"This has nothing to do with your abilities!" Nightfire exploded. "Only Ironhide will be able to bring her back!"_

_"I'm counting on it," Ratchet stated, matter-of-factly, as he continued to walk away, his back to her._

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	33. Desperate Measures Part I

**posted Nov. 26, 2008**

[EDIT on June 5, 2009: all review responses for ch. 32 have been moved to the 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' link on my biopage]

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thank you to the awesome reviewers of ch. 32: **CuteKittten, Lecidre, Bluebird Soaring, Jadedfalcon, Dragowolf, plenoptic, flamingmarsh, TransFlashbacks, Katanagirl16, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Kesera, Xerios, Hearts of Eternity, **and** lady tecuma.**

I've been going back and adding more thank you's for things. I think I'm up to chapter 5 on that if anyone wants to go look. For those of you that have faved me that I haven't gotten to, I am working on getting a 'thank you' up for you all in the AN's of the chapters where you faved me...Thanks to you all. You all are the reason this story has gotten this far and you certainly deserve some recognition. I wish I had thought of all this when I started, but, as it is, I'll just go back chapter by chapter. I should be getting you all included soon, but, for now, here are the folks that faved me since the posting of chapter 32.

Thanks so much for adding me and this story to:

**[Favorite Story]**: **Freakish Child, moonslavedragon **

**[Story Alert]**: **Rowan3, VoodooQueen, Katanagirl16**

**[Favorite Author]: Katanagirl16**

**[Author Alert]**: **Katanagirl16, Fire Redhead**

You guys are the best! I cannot thank you all enough!

Huge thank you goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma. **The characters are different, but the name is hers.

For the purposes of this story, 'Terminal Lock' is similar to when doctors stop a patient's heart during open heart surgery.

Thanks to **Hearts of Eternity **for going over this chapter with me and making some pointers. There was something missing and she found it! Thank you!

To **Phoenix13**: You asked for sparkling moments in your last review...Here you go!

Normal print is the present. _Italics_ are flashbacks following chapter 32. _**Bold italics **_are flashbacks within the flashbacks.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 33

Desperate Measures

Part 1

by Litahatchee

_"I can't believe you're doing this," Nightfire's voice cut through Ratchet's thoughts._

_Nightfire flat out refused to be the one to put Chromia in terminal lock, telling Ratchet that if he wanted to go through with it, then he was just going to have to do it himself. The two orns had passed, and Ratchet remained as determined as ever. Since Nightfire remained just as determined not to do it, he agreed to perform the procedure himself._

_"With Ironhide, you have to be direct," Ratchet replied._

_"This is pretty direct, Ratchet; straight to his spark," Nightfire said._

_It was no secret that she had no love for the mech, but this was going to be harsh, even for Ironhide, even if, in a lot of ways, he deserved it. Her main concern was not that of Ironhide, however, but whether or not Ironhide would be able to pull Chromia out of it. _

_Nightfire wasn't taking this lightly, but neither was Ratchet. She was coming to understand that Ratchet would do anything for the well-being of his patients, even if he had to seemingly kill them first. It was risky and, frankly, Nightfire was worried about the outcome. Ratchet remained confident in his decision, however. If he was concerned, he didn't show any. He was certain that this was going to work. Not once did he question himself and he seemed to be sure that Ironhide wouldn't fail. Nightfire felt the stakes were too high, but Ratchet was without doubt._

_Ratchet wasn't quite sure whether Nightfire's concern was real or from her programming. Just in case it was the former, he grinned. Eluding to the first time he met her, when she first told him to get Ironhide's attention by giving him a large mag pulse, Ratchet said, "Well, like you said before, you have to get his attention."_

_Nightfire didn't think it was funny. _

_"Let me try talking to her one more time," Nightfire said._

_Ratchet's serious demeanor returned, "You think she really knows where he is?"_

_Nightfire nodded, "Yes. I don't think he's lost contact with her once. He wouldn't do that. She may shut him out, but he'd never shut her out...not after their loss."_

_One of Ratchet's optic ridges rose up at Nightfire's statement. That would play into Ratchet's plan even better. Ironhide would know, even if he was closed off to Chromia, but if he was open to her, then the effect would be that much stronger._

_"This is going to work better than I thought," Ratchet stated._

_Nightfire just looked at him in horror._

_Ratchet crossed his arms. "If you're going to try and talk to her again, do it quickly. I'm afraid she may be deleting memories that have nothing to do with Floatilla. Ironhide is the only one that can prevent her from doing that. Without him, she's lost. As you well know, she puts up a strong front, but she can't cope with this alone. I want him here now. The longer we wait, the worse it'll be."_

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_Both Ratchet and Nightfire were certain that Ironhide would not hesitate to return if Chromia simply asked him to. Thus far, the only ones pushing for Ironhide to remain next to his sparkmate were the medics. He would continue to ignore them, but he would never ignore his sparkmate. If Nightfire could convince Chromia to call him back, terminal lock would not be necessary._

_Nightfire entered Chromia's room...only to find that she was no longer there._

_Nightfire hissed irritably. She looked everywhere throughout the med facility. There were recreation rooms, wash wracks, and any number of other places that Chromia frequented when she wasn't in her room, but Nightfire did not find her in any of these places. Nightfire thought that, perhaps, she was chasing Chromia in circles and that Chromia could have simply gone back to her room. As she headed back, she met 'Audioflash' in the hallway._

_"Have you seen Chromia?" she asked Wheeljack._

_"Yes, she left several breems ago...said something about going home," Wheeljack answered. _

_"And you let her?!" Nightfire said, incredulously._

_"Of course," Wheeljack shrugged, "She is no more confined to the med bay than you are."_

_Nightfire hissed again, "I think Ratchet would beg to differ!"_

_"She seemed well enough to me. She said she'll be back by the end of the orn. I didn't see a problem in allowing her to go," Wheeljack said._

_"Did she say anything about meeting Ironhide at all?" Nightfire asked, somewhat hopeful._

_Wheeljack answered, "No, she didn't mention him. She said she needed to get something..."_

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_Chromia stood outside the door of their domicile. She hadn't been home since Floatilla. She leaned against the door, resting her forehead on it. She briefly wondered if Ironhide had been home since then. Forcing air out of her vents, she opened the door and walked inside. There was something that she wanted. She'd go in, grab it, and then leave._

_As soon as she got inside, it was clear that Ironhide had not been home either. It was dark and eerily quiet. Everything was as she had left it when she and Elita had headed over to Floatilla. _

_Chromia did not activate the lighting as she moved through to their berth-room. However, her CPU played memories of the sights and sounds that she had taken in during the two vorns that Sunshadow was alive, especially the second part of that last vorn, when Sunshadow was just beginning to explore his world, and speak to them. She could hear Ironhide chuckling in her memories as Sunshadow giggled. It was as if the domicile were no longer dark, the light in her memories lighting her way. Their home was as alive as it had always been..._

_-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_**"Vroom vroom!" Sunshadow goaded his mech creator.**_

_**"Sunshadow, it's time to recharge," Ironhide was saying.**_

_**"No! Vroom vroom!" Sunshadow had his favorite toy in hand and he was ready to play!**_

_**"Come on, get in the hold," Ironhide continued, gesturing towards his open chestplates for Sunshadow to crawl into his carry hold. **_

_**"Play!" Sunshadow squeaked, rolling his toy over his mech creator's open chest armor, making no move to go into the hold at all.**_

_**Ironhide groaned, allowing himself to fall on his back wearily.**_

_**Chromia walked in and laughed at her mate and her sparkling. Ironhide lay on his back, chestplates open, looking like he might deactivate at any moment. Sunshadow was unaffected, rolling his favorite toy on every flat surface he could find on Ironhide. **_

_**"Vrooooommmm," Sunshadow hummed before stopping the toy and then yelling, "BOOM!" **_

_**The toy was an exact replica of Ironhide's alt mode. It wasn't a transformable toy, but Sunshadow didn't care. It was his mech creator through and through, and Sunshadow could hardly be separated from it. He called it his 'Little Dide.' He knew he couldn't take it into the carry hold of either of his creators, so, ever since he got the toy, he procrastinated going inside as long as he could.**_

_**Ironhide turned his head towards Chromia, "Mia, I'm exhausted. He never gets tired!"**_

_**Chromia smiled, "I can see that."**_

_**"Do something...Take it away from him," Ironhide continued.**_

_**"Oh, and let me be the bad guy again? No, no...I don't think so," Chromia replied. "You're the one that made it for him."**_

_**"How was I to know he'd like it this much?" Ironhide lamented.**_

_**"It's you, Hide," Chromia retorted. "He's going to like anything that reminds him of you."**_

_**Ironhide gave her a pleading look and she relented, but not by taking away Sunshadow's Little Dide.**_

_**"I'll play with him and then carry him for a little while. You can get some rest."**_

_**"Oh, thank Primus," Ironhide didn't hesitate to close up his chest-plating and then rolled on his side, practically in recharge already.**_

_**Sunshadow slapped Ironhide's faceplates with his little fingers, "Dide? Play, Dide."**_

_**Chromia reached down and lifted him up, "Dide's recharging. Let's take Little Dide somewhere else and play."**_

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

_The memory faded when Chromia found what she was looking for. It was right where they left it..._

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**"When we get back, you can play with Little Dide all you want," Chromia explained to her sparkling, who was having none of it.**_

_**"No, no...Little Dide go with us," he pouted.**_

_**"He can't go with us, Sunshadow. Just put him right here and he'll be here when we get back." **_

_**She was tempted to allow him to just bring the toy along in her hold, but she knew how dangerous that could be. If something fell off of the toy, like a wheel, then that could fall through natural cracks in her frame and get caught in her systems. It could even be fatal. They had to watch him to make sure he didn't try to bring other things into their holds, but, thus far, the only thing he really liked to carry around with him was his Little Dide. He'd be getting his second frame soon, so this wouldn't be a problem for too much longer. **_

_**Sunshadow regarded her, his little CPU whirring in thought. "You hold him," he suggested, placing the toy in Chromia's free hand.**_

_**Chromia laughed. Sunshadow showed a great deal of intelligence. She was always amazed by what he'd say or do. He obviously knew he couldn't hold the toy inside the carry hold, but that didn't mean that his femme creator couldn't hold it herself. **_

_**"I tell you what, let's put him right here," she placed the toy on the floor next to their ammunition storage, "And when we get back, I'll let you watch 'Hide clean his cannons."**_

_**Sunshadow was always showing interest in Ironhide's weaponry. The fact that he even knew it existed exasperated Chromia. She never allowed Sunshadow to see what she had stored in her subspace and she had forbidden Ironhide to show the sparkling too. That didn't seem to matter, though, as Sunshadow seemed to know and always knew when Ironhide was exacting repairs. He cried and cried to watch, but Chromia never allowed him to when she was around. She suspected that when she wasn't around, Ironhide didn't follow that rule...ever.**_

_**Sunshadow gave her a bored expression and Chromia narrowed her optics.**_

_**"You've already watched him before, haven't you?" she asked and Sunshadow smiled, laughing, and nodding his head.**_

_**Chromia sighed, exasperated. She'd have to speak to Ironhide a bit more about that...if 'speak' was even the right word for what she was going to do to him once she got ahold of him about this, that unbelievable fragger. **_

_**Seeming to sense Chromia's frustration, Sunshadow slipped into her hold without another word. 'Well, at least something worked,' Chromia shrugged to herself, closing the little mech in. **_

_**Right at that moment, the comm to her domicile beeped. It was Elita.**_

_**"Moonracer's going to meet us in the plaza," Elita said over the comm.**_

_**"Oh good. I don't know my way around Floatilla, so that works better," Chromia replied. They were originally going to meet Moonracer in her domicile, but Chromia hadn't downloaded any maps of the city, so she wasn't entirely sure where that was yet.**_

_**"That's what I said, too," Elita laughed. "You ready?"**_

_**Making sure Sunshadow was comfortable, Chromia replied, "Yea, I'll be right down."**_

-------------------------------------------------------

_Chromia sank to the floor and slowly reached for the object that she had come to get, 'Little Dide.' She wanted to get it for Sunshadow. She knew that he would like to have it with him. She rolled it back and forth, the shock that Sunshadow would never play with it again sinking through her being. She didn't know how long she sat there doing that, but when it finally caught up to her, it hit her like molten plasma. _

_Chromia picked up the toy, turning it over and over in her hands. It really did look like Ironhide's alt mode. She traced all the contours and plating, thinking back to when Ironhide had made it. She brought Sunshadow's 'Little Dide' up to her spark and, curling around it, she lay down on the floor. _

_Completely overwhelmed and shaking with sorrow, her spark wept until she could cry no longer, her frame going into involuntary recharge. When she finally woke up, she just lay there, staring across the floor of their dark domicile, her grief paralyzing her..._

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_Nightfire checked the time again. Chromia had been gone far longer than Wheeljack had expected. Nightfire had already downloaded the information she needed to find where Chromia and Ironhide lived. She was about to leave, when Chromia walked through the door._

_Amazed at how relieved she was, Nightfire approached her, "What have you been doing?"_

_Chromia seemed to be in a light-sparked mood. She mulled over Nightfire's question and then replied, "You know, I'm not really sure."_

_Nightfire suddenly got the sinking feeling that Ratchet's fears were true; that Chromia was deleting further memories that she couldn't cope with; memories that were unrelated to Floatilla, but painful because of what happened there. _

_Nightfire saw that she was carrying something in her hand. She asked about it. "What do you have?"_

_Chromia lifted it up, "Oh this? I don't know." She smiled, continuing, "I thought it was cute, so I brought it along. Looks like Ironhide, doesn't it?" _

_Chromia placed the object in Nightfire's hand and then moved on. Nightfire watched her go and then looked down at the object. It was some sort of toy..._

_...that looked exactly like Ironhide's alt mode._

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AN: Happy Thanksgiving for those of you that celebrate it. Everyone else: have a happy day anyway!


	34. Desperate Measures Part II

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Thanks a million to the reviewers of ch. 33: **LadyJet2, CuteKittten, Bluebird Soaring, Lecidre, TransFlashbacks, Katanagirl16, xCubicZirconia, flamingmarsh, Kesera, ArmoredSoul, lady tecuma, Xerios, Karategal, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, Hearts of Eternity, **and **Dragowolf**.

Responses to reviews for ch. 33 can be found under the link to 'REVIEW RESPONSES' on my biopage.

**Total visiting countries during the month of November**: USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Singapore, Netherlands, Philippines, Germany, Brazil, Estonia, Taiwan, Finland, Poland, Sweden, Italy, Argentina, New Zealand, Malaysia, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, Asia/Pacific Region, Denmark, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Lithuania, Norway, Ireland, Austria, and Indonesia

Thanks so much for adding me and this story to your:

**[Favorite Story]**: **xCubicZirconia, weapon13WhiteFang**

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I'm so glad you all are enjoying reading my stuff. Thank you!

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Huge thanks goes to **Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **Lady Tecuma. **The characters are different, but the name is hers.

I have gotten some amazing fan-art recently. **Lecidre **drew a fantastic picture of Ratchet and Nightfire and also did a stamp for me AND a fanvid! It's too wonderful for words! I put links to everything on my biopage, since I cannot put them here. **Xerios/Middernacht **drew a gorgeous picture of Sunshadow with Little Dide near Ironhide's carrying hold. The link to that little darling is on my biopage as well.

Thanks also to **lady tecuma **for reading over this chapter and thanks to **Xerios** for beta-reading and helping me with a few grammar errors.

_Italics_ are flashbacks following chapter 33. _**Bold italics **_are flashbacks within flashbacks.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 34

Desperate Measures

Part 2

by Litahatchee

_"I won't be able to prevent Ironhide's wrath if he sees you with his sparkling," Ratchet warned._

_He had been looking for Nightfire. He had run into Wheeljack and asked him, after nearly knocking the mech's head in for allowing Chromia to leave without him knowing. Once it was clear to Wheeljack to let Ratchet know EVERYTHING that went on in HIS med bay, Wheeljack had smiled and said, "Everyone is looking for somebody this orn." He then became serious and told Ratchet that he saw Nightfire walking towards the morgue._

_That is exactly where Ratchet found her. She was standing in front of the drawer that held Ironhide and Chromia's sparkling. She stood staring at the sparkling with something in her hands. Ratchet couldn't make out what it was, but she was absently turning it around and around with her fingers, lost in thought. _

_Nightfire looked up upon hearing Ratchet speak. She wasn't sure how long he had been standing there, but she heard his warning. _

_"Well, there's a problem, now, isn't there?" she retorted, "Ironhide is not here."_

_Ratchet crossed his arms over his chest in contempt of her relentless sarcasm. Ratchet had a certain amount of control over Ironhide, but there was no question that Ironhide was stronger than he was. If Ironhide truly lost it, there'd be little he could do by himself, except try to pump the crazed mech full of sedatives and hope he was knocked out before he could cause too much damage to Nightfire. Ironhide might have been able to control himself before when he found Nightfire alone, but seeing a Decepticon with his sparkling would be too much for him. It made Ratchet a little nervous to see her in here, knowing full well how Ironhide would react. However, he said nothing else as he watched her splay the sparkling's fingers over her fingertips. _

_"Deluge and I wanted a sparkling," she said, distantly. "We almost spark-mated when the ceasefire was called. It would have been easy for us to hide a sparkling at Floatilla." Nightfire looked down at the object in her hand, her expression sad. "But, then Deluge found out the ceasefire was just a trick to lure the Autobots into a trap." She remembered how disappointed she was that the ceasefire wasn't real. _

_Ratchet slowly lowered his arms, anxiety and fear rising in his spark. "You knew?" he breathed in shock._

_Upon hearing the sound of his voice, Nightfire realized what he must be thinking. "I knew the ceasefire was a ruse. I had no idea the plan was genocide."_

_Ratchet seemed to visibly relax, relieved that she didn't have anything to do with the attack, but still on edge that she knew the ceasefire wasn't real. However, she had been a Decepticon, so he couldn't fault her for keeping her faction's actions in confidence. The one thing that perplexed him, that perplexed all of them, was that her sparkmate was there. What was his role in the attack and what did Nightfire know of it? Things weren't quite adding up, but Ratchet didn't pursue the question. Whatever her sparkmate's actions might have been, the results were certainly a surprise to her. It seemed that he had been able to hide Megatron's true intentions from her, but that his role in it all also cost him their lives. Whatever crimes Deluge had committed, Nightfire was carrying out the sentence. _

_Ratchet tried to scan her again and, again, her disruptor was on. She threw him a sidelong glance. She knew him well enough to know he'd try that every time he was near her, so she just kept it on continuously when she was in his presence. She pointedly ignored his frustration and his concern._

_She glanced back down at the object in her hand, her concern for Chromia distracting her. Nightfire knew right away that this toy had to have belonged to Sunshadow. The fact that it was shaped like Ironhide's alt mode and the fact that Chromia had it to begin with led Nightfire to that obvious conclusion. It was more than likely Sunshadow's favorite toy. The fact that Chromia didn't remember anything about it led Nightfire to another obvious conclusion: Ratchet's fears were correct; Chromia had begun deleting memories that had nothing to do with the horrors she suffered from Megatron. Nightfire could only imagine what possessed Chromia to start doing such a thing..._

_------------------------------_

_**Chromia lay still, staring across the floor of their home until the whole of the universe seemed to come crashing down on her. She rolled Little Dide away from her, until it came to a stop at the nearest wall. She lay, staring at it, her grief increasing as she knew Sunshadow would not be toddling over to retrieve it. **_

_**She felt completely helpless, and utterly alone. She couldn't move...She didn't want to move...She silently cursed Ratchet's efforts to keep her alive. **_

_**She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what she could do. She just knew that she couldn't move. A thought occurred to her...There was something she could do. If she did it, maybe she would be able to at least move again. If she did it, she would at least be able to get up off the floor. **_

_**Feeling like she had no other options, Chromia began deleting every memory she had of Little Dide. It would be the first time that she deleted something unrelated to Sunshadow's death, but far from the last as each deletion became like a weight being lifted from her shoulders. With every memory she deleted, she found that she was able to pick herself up off the floor and move about their domicile in relative peace. **_

_**As Chromia went about a few chores that needed to be done, she realized that she didn't even know why she was there. She decided that she should just go back to the med facility. She felt drained and she knew that Nightfire would help to bolster her energy.**_

_**On her way out the door, Chromia spotted something on the floor near the far wall by Ironhide's weapons locker. She went over to it and picked it up. She chuckled at it. It was an adorable toy that looked just like Ironhide. She was a little bit puzzled, as she didn't remember Sunshadow ever playing with it, but thoughts of Ironhide drifted through her mind and down into her spark. **_

_**Continuing to mask her condition, she reached out to him and felt that fierce intensity he always had during battle. He was vibrant with battle lust. Feeling her touch only increased his motivation and intensity, bolstering his strength and resolve. She didn't call for him, but, instead, encouraged him. **_

_**With a lightness in her step that she hadn't felt in a long time, her spark buoyant, Chromia decided to bring the toy along with her back to the med bay.**_

_---------------------------------------------_

_Ratchet moved closer to see what Nightfire was looking at in her hands. It was a toy..._

_Feeling the discomfort she felt when Chromia had returned and knew nothing of something that had to have had some meaning in her family, Nightfire said to Ratchet, "Do what you need to do."_

_Ratchet nodded his head, determination settling across his faceplates as Nightfire placed the toy in the sparkling's hand, closing the drawer afterwards..._

_"Will you support me?" he asked her when she turned around._

_"I'll support you, but I won't do it myself," she answered._

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_Chromia was laying on her berth when Ratchet and Nightfire entered the room. As Ratchet's momentum toward her never slowed, Chromia sat up. Without warning or permission, Ratchet grabbed the back of Chromia's neck and connected, transferring more energy than he thought she would need to sustain a full systems shutdown. Chromia cried out in surprise and shock._

_Not giving her any chance to react fully, Ratchet said to her, "Unless you can tell me that Ironhide is on his way back here right now, I am going to put you in terminal lock."_

_Chromia gaped at him, her optics wide with disbelief, "You can't be serious." _

_She looked to Nightfire for confirmation, but all Nightfire could do was stare in disbelief as well. Ratchet was a little more abrupt than she expected he would be._

_"I am going to give you three astroseconds to contact him," Ratchet said._

_Chromia laughed, "Is this a joke?"_

_"One," Ratchet pronounced succinctly._

_"Chromia, just contact him," Nightfire practically pleaded._

_Chromia looked from Nightfire to Ratchet and back again, anger taking hold of her as she could feel Ratchet lining up the code in her CPU._

_"No," she said, stubbornly. _

_She wasn't going to let them force her to call Ironhide. She also didn't think that Ratchet would seriously do this, so she didn't bother with her firewalls._

_"Two."_

_"You're bluffing," she growled at Ratchet._

_Once Ratchet had the code he needed lined up, he opened Chromia's chestplating, reaching behind her spark-casing for the small lever that could now be triggered. If the code for terminal lock were not lined up in her CPU, accessing this lever would not be possible. Once the code was accessed and activated, then the lever would become accessible and could be triggered, causing a total systems shutdown._

_Chromia started, her spark hitching in alarm, when Ratchet first opened her chestplates. Still disbelieving that this was happening, she threw her firewalls up immediately. It was an astrosecond too late, though, as Ratchet already had the code lined up._

_"Three."_

_"No...WAIT!" Chromia screamed as she realized just how serious Ratchet was when his fingers brushed behind her spark-casing. She suddenly opened herself completely to Ironhide, trying to warn him, but becoming overtaken with a rush of total panic instead..._

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AN: Hides behind computer, peeking out at you guys. Oh, come on, I couldn't ruin that cliffhanger by going back to the present just yet....(wink)


	35. Total Recall

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Huge thanks to the reviewers of ch. 34: **lady tecuma, Bluebird Soaring, plenoptic, I play wid fir3, CuteKittten, Katanagirl16, xCubicZirconia, flamingmarsh, LadyJet2, TransFlashbacks, Lecidre, Xerios, Independent.C., Hearts of Eternity (for two:)), Miss Procrastination, Dragowolf, **and **Kesera.**

Responses to reviews for ch. 34 can be found under the link to 'REVIEW RESPONSES' on my biopage.

Thanks so much for adding me and this story to:

**[Favorite Story]**: **flarey phoenix, redfox12**

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You guys are awesome!

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks goes to **Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **Lady Tecuma. **The characters are different, but the name is hers.

**Lecidre **posted another awesome piece of fanart for this story! Her latest is a pic of Optimus and Elita. The link, along with all other links to all 'Night Fire' fanart, are on my biopage. I cannot thank you enough!

Okay, folks, this entire chapter is in normal print, as it is in the present! This may be good or bad, depending on what part of the story you're dying to know, but yay for those of you that couldn't wait to see at least something in the present. As a slight refresher, the last thing we saw in the present was that Ratchet had told Chromia that he was going to replace the weld (that was chapter 26, if you need to go back and read. I realize a lot of time has passed since I posted that chapter).

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 35

Total Recall

by Litahatchee

Chromia shot bolt upright on the medical berth, energon pumping through her systems so rapidly, she could hear it in her audios.

Ratchet jumped away from her in surprise. He had been preparing to replace the weld when he realized that if she were locked in a recharge state, then the procedure wouldn't be as painful for her. He had just discussed it with her and she had agreed. Before he could lock her in that state, however, she needed to go into recharge first. She had already run her recharge programs, had almost been in recharge, and he was leaning in to initiate the lock when she suddenly shot up in a state of panic.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded frantically.

Ratchet noted that her pump-rate had skyrocketed.

"I just explained to you what I was doing," he responded, confused by her sudden alarm. "Didn't you hear a word I said?"

Chromia seemed disoriented. The memories of Nightfire that he had accidentally transferred to her earlier must have triggered a massive memory recall when she ran her recharge program. She looked around, looking unsure of where she was for a moment.

Ratchet gave her some space, allowing her to recalibrate her chronometer so that she'd remember that she was on Earth. She started to relax a little bit, but when he reached for her arm, she pulled away.

As far as what her CPU was telling her, Ratchet had just said he was going to put her in terminal lock. As she looked around and remembered where she was, she realized that it was just a very vivid memory recall from her recovery on Cybertron. However, with terminal lock fresh on her mind, she didn't want Ratchet near her at all.

"Don't touch me," she warned.

Ratchet stared at her in confusion, wondering what on this human planet she could be thinking at that moment.

"Relax, Chromia. I was just locking you in recharge," he said.

"I don't want you to lock me in anything!" she replied.

"Trust me. This way will be much more comfortable for you," Ratchet continued.

"I don't trust you! It's a trick, isn't it? You tricked me!" Chromia exclaimed.

"A trick? What are you talking about?" Ratchet asked.

"You're just going to put me in terminal lock again. You're trying to trick me into making it easier for you," she responded.

Ratchet seemed to actually relax a bit. He smirked at her as he remembered all those vorns ago. Chromia glared at him, her demeanor that of attack mode if he so much as cycled air through his vents wrong. He didn't feel threatened in the least...

"I'm not putting you in terminal lock...and I didn't trick you. I told you exactly my intentions."

"You gave me all of three astroseconds!" she exclaimed incredulously.

"I had to act quickly, otherwise it wouldn't have had the same impact on Ironhide." He had wanted her to know that he was serious and really wanted her to contact Ironhide so he wouldn't have had to initiate terminal lock. However, he couldn't have given her too much time or she would have simply warned Ironhide what was about to happen without actually asking him to come back. He would have had to come back, of course, but the impact would not have been the same, as Ironhide would have known that she was actually still alive. Ratchet had wanted to make a point...and it was a poignant point.

Chromia stared at him in disbelief. Ratchet could tell that she wanted to attack him, but she was too weak and she knew it. She tried to unsubspace her shoulder canon anyway, and quickly realized that he'd disabled it. It was standard medical protocol to disable any and all weapons on a Cybertronian before any medical procedures were performed; she knew that too. So, she attacked him the only way she could: verbally.

"You unbelievable fragger from Pit!"

"When it comes to my patients, I will do what I need to do, Chromia. You know that," Ratchet stated calmly.

"You see what good it did us, you fragging glitch!" Chromia yelled.

"Well, at least you're still alive. I did my part. I did what I had to do; everyone has. You and Ironhide have to do yours. You have only yourselves to blame," Ratchet said, rather bluntly.

Chromia's narrowed her optics, her anger evident in the tone of her voice, "How dare you...You have no idea what it's like..."

Ratchet was losing his patience, an anger of his own growing inside him, "I know what it's like to lose someone. You are not the only one that has lost! At least you still have your sparkmate! Quit fragging avoiding him!"

"It's not that easy!"

Ratchet slammed a fist down on the edge of her berth, causing her to jump in surprise.

"Sure it is!" he almost yelled, "All you have to do is open your damn chestplates and throw your spark at him! I'm sure he'll be more than happy to receive it!"

They stared at each other in silence for a few astroseconds before a small smile began to form on Chromia's faceplates. The next thing Ratchet knew, she was laughing. It wasn't a crazy, sardonic, laugh, but a genuine laugh. She really found something funny. She stopped for a moment to observe the look on his face and then started laughing again.

Ratchet's dark mood brightened as he thought about what he had just said. He smiled and then chuckled. He found he needed to sit down, so he grabbed a stool and placed it next to her berth.

"Primus, Ratchet!" Chromia could barely speak, she was laughing so hard, "Throw my spark at him?!"

Ratchet was always blunt, but she couldn't help but find humor in it this time. Ratchet laughed with her. It was a nice relief from their anger at each other and certainly helped to dissolve away the tension.

They sat in companionable silence as their laughter died down. Ratchet reached over and placed his hand upon hers. She didn't flinch away from him this time.

"Why are you doing this to yourself, Chromia?" he asked softly. "Is it because he kept Bumblebee hidden?"

Chromia bowed her head, her optics tracing the contours of Ratchet's hand. She grasped it in return, her grip tightening as she spoke, "No, I've already forgiven him for that."

"He needs you. You need him. It's simple," Ratchet continued.

Full understanding dawned on Ratchet as he thought about what he was getting when he had interfaced to transfer energy to her. This had to do with their sparkling and her guilt. Furthermore, Chromia felt like Ironhide had discarded the memories...Ratchet was well aware that it wasn't a simple matter, but he knew it was that simple to start with. If they would just let it, the rest would fall into place.

As was usual with Chromia when she didn't want to talk about something, she changed the subject slightly, "Where did Bumblebee come from?"

Ratchet sighed, squeezing Chromia's hand as he sat up a bit. Bumblebee's presence alone would help her, so he was glad she was showing interest in the youngling. He'd figure out a way to let Ironhide know she was in the med bay. The fragger still had his comm turned off, but Ratchet had a feeling that he was looking for her.

"That is the question of his life," Ratchet answered.

Chromia looked up at him in surprise, "You mean, you don't know either?"

"None of us know," Ratchet said.

Chromia regarded him suspiciously. Ironhide had said that no one knew, that Optimus had found the sparkling, but she really thought Ratchet would know; especially since Bumblebee seemed to know Nightfire. Chromia had begun to think that Nightfire had a secret, that Ratchet knew about it, and that he respected her wishes to keep that secret by letting everyone think that Optimus had found the little sparkling.

"Did you know that he's suffering from lost bonds?" she asked him next, hoping to get some form of answer from him.

"We're all suffering from lost bonds," Ratchet answered wearily.

"No, these are spark bonds," Chromia stated.

Ratchet sat in silence as he thought about what she was saying. When Optimus brought them Bumblebee, the little bot was still in his first frame and he still had his carry cable. Having a carry cable indicated that he had creators, that he did not come from the AllSpark. Coming from the AllSpark, at that time, would have been impossible anyway, as Optimus hadn't allowed anyone near it for vorns. But, it even seemed an impossibility that he existed at all. There were only a handful of bonded femmes left, and he knew each of them. It was conceivable that there had been a bonded pair in hiding, but no one ever found them.

When the little sparkling had been introduced to them, he had been distressed, but he didn't seem to be suffering from sparkshock, and he calmed down considerably when Ironhide allowed him inside his carrying hold. Ratchet had monitored the sparkling for sparkshock, but Bumblebee seemed to be doing just fine after that. He took to Ironhide like an AllSpark youngling would take to a caretaker, forming a strong bond with him.

There was never any indication that Bumblebee's health was declining due to losing his creators. In fact, he thrived in Ironhide's care. Ratchet had simply assumed that there must have been a fail-safe for a sparkling that young, that if a sparkling that young lost his creators, he wouldn't suffer from sparkshock of their loss. Now Chromia seemed to be telling him otherwise, but he found it hard to believe that Bumblebee could endure something like that on his own for his entire life. Not once had the young mech even so much as mentioned a possible pain in his spark...

Judging by the look on Ratchet's face, his awkward silence, and his obvious contemplation, another thought occured to Chromia: Nightfire may have had a secret that she didn't tell **anybody**, not even Ratchet. If Ratchet had known about Bumblebee's sparkshock, he would never have neglected that. At least, she didn't think so.

"Do you," Chromia hesitated, but plowed on anyway, "have **all **of Nightfire's memories?"

Time seemed to stand still as every natural whirring noise Ratchet's systems made stopped. He was eerily quiet, right down to his very frame.

Afraid he might shut down, Chromia squeezed his hand to get his attention. His optics tracked back up to hers.

"She...gave them to me," he said so quietly, she almost wasn't sure he said anything at all.

Chromia slowly nodded her head. That was what she had thought. She hadn't realized how close he had gotten to Nightfire, no one had. Until now, he never even indicated that she still registered in his processor. He never even indicated that he thought of anything beyond his patients' needs. To Chromia, Ratchet suddenly looked very lonely.

"I'm sorry, Ratchet," Chromia said.

Ratchet's systems seemed to suddenly kick back in, his normal whirring noises continuing. "It's okay," he said, his voice back to normal. He then patted her hand, adding, "I'm fine."

She raised an optic ridge at him, but she certainly wasn't about to push for the details. She still wasn't convinced that he didn't know anything about Bumblebee's origins, though. If it had been any other bot, she might not have pressed for anything more, but this was Ratchet...He was always extremely straight forward with her. He could handle it from her too.

Chromia looked deep into Ratchet's optics when she asked him this next question, "Was she carrying?"

At first, Ratchet wasn't sure how to respond to the question. He had just said that he didn't know where Bumblebee came from, so why would Chromia consider such a thing?

"He knew her, Ratchet," Chromia continued. "She is one of his losses."

It suddenly dawned on Ratchet that Chromia thought he really did know where Bumblebee came from.

"Nightfire did not have a sparkling," Ratchet said matter of factly, pulling his hand away from hers as he sat up straighter on his stool.

"There are two losses that were close to Bumblebee's spark and he said that one of them was a femme that meets her description," Chromia pressed.

"Well, then, it must be another femme, because Nightfire didn't even have a carrying hold," Ratchet wasn't sure how he felt about the current vein the conversation had taken. "I would know if she had a sparkling."

"Are you sure?" Chromia knew she was pushing it, now, but she really felt that the femme Bumblebee knew was Nightfire. The way Bumblebee said her name...'Fiyure.' It was 'Nightfire,' it had to be...Nightfire may have given Ratchet her memories, but maybe she left something out to protect what she held most dear...

"I'm sure," Ratchet stated.

"She wouldn't let you scan her, though...Are you sure that it isn't something she kept from you?" Chromia didn't know much about Nightfire's medical treatment during that time, but she did recall Ratchet trying to scan her several times and her being able to block his scans...

"I'm sure, Chromia," Ratchet repeated, more sternly this time, the tone in his voice suggesting she drop this part of the conversation. He wasn't about to elaborate how intimately he knew that Nightfire, without a doubt, did not possess a carrying hold or a sparkling from anywhere else.

Chromia continued to look upon him with suspicion. Bumblebee had to have known Nightfire somehow. They had to be close for him to be suffering from her loss. Chromia knew, in her spark, that Bumblebee knew Nightfire...

Ratchet was confident that he knew that Bumblebee did not know Nightfire in any way, but he decided to use Chromia's line of questioning to his advantage. Despite his own personal issues being out in the open, the real issue he had right now was getting Ironhide and Chromia in the same room together... He was the CMO, and his patients always came first. It was his programming, after all.

"Why don't you ask Ironhide?" Ratchet said. Ironhide raised Bumblebee, so maybe Bumblebee said something to him about it.

Chromia thought about the tremendous pressure Bumblebee might have been under with Ironhide as his caretaker. Bumblebee, no doubt, knew how Ironhide felt about Decepticons. Everyone knew how Ironhide felt about Decepticons, especially the Decepticons. Bumblebee would never want to reveal his fears that he was one, nor would he want to reveal that he was close to one...not to Ironhide. Poor bot. He had to keep it to himself for far too long. He probably wasn't sure he could even speak to anyone else about it.

Chromia visibly stiffened. "I know what you're doing. Don't manipulate me. Besides, Ironhide could hardly stand Nightfire. He keeps his thoughts of her so locked away, that even I never see them..." Chromia trailed off as a realization hit her...

Bumblebee was very important to Ironhide, but Ironhide kept his thoughts on him so locked away, that she never knew he even existed. Were his memories of her and Sunshadow locked away too? Was that why she couldn't see them?

Chromia's head shot up as the expression on her face revealed that Ratchet's manipulation of her psyche worked.

Ratched smiled smugly to himself in victory of his own tactic. He knew Ironhide had downloaded his CPU into hers. He saw that when he interfaced with her for the energy transfer. He also saw her inner darkness...

"Look again, Chromia," he said softly, "He isn't any better off than you are."

Ratchet let that sink in for a moment, before standing up and raising his welder, "Shall we?"

Chromia glared at him and then gave in. She knew the effort was futile anyway. He was going to do whatever he felt was needed, no matter what she thought. It would go a lot easier if she cooperated and ran her recharge programs like he wanted her to so that he could lock her in that state. She didn't like it...at all. But, without a word, she laid back down to comply with his request, staring at the ceiling as she started the programs.

Ratchet suddenly leaned down, a mischievous look in his optics, "I won't put you in terminal lock, if you promise me you'll go find Ironhide after the repair."

Chromia reacted immediately. "What?!" She tried pushing him away.

Ratchet acted like he was going for the back of her neck to connect to her CPU, his other hand coming to rest over the latch of her chassis.

It was enough to scare Chromia into opening herself to Ironhide for a brief half an astrosecond. "Okay! Okay, I will; just don't do it."

Ratchet backed away, chuckling to himself.

Chromia realized that she'd been had, that he was simply manipulating her again. "Ratchet! That's not funny!"

"Maybe not, but I'm willing to bet you contacted him, didn't you?" Ratchet could hardly contain his mirth.

"You fragging glitch!"

Ratchet chuckled again. He needed to figure out a way to alert Ironhide that Chromia was in the med bay, and he had just successfully done that. He could probably have the weld replaced before Ironhide even got there.

As Chromia's recharge programs finished their sequences and she began to fall into recharge, Ratchet's words replayed themselves in her mind:

"Look again, Chromia. He isn't any better off than you are."

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AN: Wow, that was a hard chapter to write. The sequence of that was giving me fits! Anyway, I want to thank all of you for your support throughout the year. I want to especially thank Hearts of Eternity, Lady Tecuma, and violetlight for all the hours we spend on MSN, sharing ideas and helping each other. Thank you! Writing this story has been wonderfully fun and rewarding and thanks to all of you for your wonderful reviews. I thrive on your comments! I read them over and over and each one is always a bright spot in my day. I aspire to hold your interest in this new year and wish all of you a Happy New Year! Happy 2009! Transformers 2 comes out THIS SUMMER! I'm so excited (happy dance)!


	36. Impenetrable

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Gigantic thanks to the reviewers of ch. 35: **Bluebird Soaring, Katanagirl16, flamingmarsh, plenoptic, theshadowcat, xCubicZirconia, Miss Procrastination, Jadedfalcon, Karategal, CuteKittten, transflashbacks, Lecidre, Xerios, Dragowolf, Mariarose, Kesera, Independent.C., lady tecuma, **and** Hearts of Eternity.**

Responses to reviews for ch. 35 have been moved to the link 'REVIEW RESPONSES' on my biopage.

**Visiting countries **during **December** (this feature was down for awhile, so a country or two may be missing). I am really only showing you all this stuff because I find it interesting and I thought that maybe, by some small chance, perhaps at least ONE of you would find it interesting too: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, Slovakia, Singapore, Poland, Indonesia, South Africa, Taiwan, Finland, Norway, Austria, Malaysia, South Korea, Portugal, Sweden, Brazil, Costa Rica, Philippines, Mexico, France, Chile, Netherlands, Italy, Argentina, Kenya, Lithuania, Peru, Denmark, and Ireland. OMG! That must be a record! Thank you!

Thanks to **SergeantDuck** for adding me to your **[Author Alert] **list. You rock!

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **Lady Tecuma. **The characters are different, but the name is hers.

Thanks to **lady tecuma **for looking over this!

Okay, folks, this entire chapter is back in the past. It follows immediately after Ratchet put Chromia in terminal lock in chapter 34. Italics are a flashback. I'll be mixing past and present for a bit more, as the past affects the present greatly (which I guess is the case with all things, if you think about it).

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 36

Impenetrable

by Litahatchee

_"I think you're more Decepticon than I am," Nightfire breathed as she looked upon Chromia's lifeless form. _

_He had actually done it. Ratchet had placed her in terminal lock without batting an optic. Chromia obviously hadn't believed that he really would; she didn't back down, but neither did he... Nightfire watched as he checked through each of her systems to make sure they had all properly shut down._

_"Or maybe I'm just as Cybertronian as you are," Ratchet stated as he closed Chromia's chassis. _

_She supported Ratchet's decision with this, but she still wasn't convinced Ironhide would make it in time. She just wasn't nearly as sure as Ratchet was... He was way too optimistic about it..._

_"Or maybe you Autobots are just too idealistic," she retorted as he stood up. _

_"Or maybe you Decepticons aren't idealistic enough," Ratchet said as he turned towards her._

_"Or maybe you are delusional," she said as he made an obvious attempt to scan her, this time using a more powerful scan. Her disruptor held up, blocking that one as well. She didn't move, a small smirk forming on her face._

_"Or maybe you need to drop the charade and let me properly scan you," Ratchet stated irritably, moving purposefully towards her._

_Too late, Nightfire realized she was his next target. She backed away from him, her back finding the wall all too quickly. He had her effectively trapped. She regretted her decision not to move. She wasn't going anywhere._

_"Drop your disruptor, or I'll find a way to shut it off," Ratchet stated gruffly, leaving her no room to argue, slowly approaching her as if he were a predator stalking his prey..._

_"Don't threaten me, Autobot!" she bristled._

_Ratchet quickly closed the distance and firmly placed his left hand on her chassis over her spark. She visibly flinched away as he moved even closer to reach around her side and place his right hand on her back behind her spark. His chin brushed the top of her helm..._

_"What are you doing?" she demanded._

_"What does it look like I'm doing?" he said impatiently. It was clear he was preparing to administer magnetic pulse therapy...a technique she taught him! Perhaps she really was losing it..._

_"Well, that depends on your frame of mind," she retorted, her voice taking on a seductive tone, but with a sarcastic twinge to it. _

_"Primus, femme!" Ratchet exclaimed, somewhat surprised a bonded femme would insinuate such a thing, but not at all surprised with it coming from Nightfire. If her intent was to shock him enough to move away from her, he wasn't falling for it. "And you were saying that I am the one that's delusional?!"_

_He immediately sent her a strong pulse and she yelped in pain. _

_"Ow! Ratchet?!" she tried to push him away, adding, "Seriously, I'm doing fine." She was exasperated. Nothing seemed to phase this medic. She had hoped her little comment would have him shaking his head and leaving her be, but maybe he was getting to know her too well...Nothing she said seemed to surprise him anymore._

_"You're not doing fine," Ratchet argued, "Scan or no scan, I can see it on your faceplates."_

_Nightfire tried to step to the side and break free of his hands. He was far too close for her comfort. Ratchet easily stopped her with his larger frame, sending her another pulse between his hands. She squirmed in pain, but did not yell out again._

_"You can either relax or take this the hard way," Ratchet firmly stated. "Either way, I'm not stopping until you look like you feel better."_

_He sent her another pulse and she hissed at him._

_"Just relax, Nightfire!" he growled._

_She tried sidestepping him again, but he simply matched her movement, easily keeping her detained. They glared at each other for a moment, their faces no more than a hand-span apart._

_Sighing audibly, Nightfire relented. He was right; if she didn't relax, the pulses would be painful to her injured spark. Either way, the therapy would work; it was up to her how she wanted to endure it. She decided the 'relaxing' way would feel best. However, she couldn't bring herself to relax fully and if his intent was to get her to let down her guard and turn the disruptor off, she wasn't falling for it. But, she did become more and more comfortable with his proximity with each pulse he gave. She began to allow him to support her weight as she rested her head on his chestplating..._

_Suddenly, a blaring alarm rang out throughout the med bay. Both Nightfire and Ratchet jumped as Optimus Prime's voice sounded over the loud speaker._

_"Iacon Medical, prepare for incoming wounded and casualties."_

_Over his private link with Ratchet, Optimus said simply, __**"We failed."**_

_Giving no indication that he'd just received a private transmission, Ratchet wordlessly backed away from Nightfire, making sure she was balanced enough to stand on her own. She looked up at him, clearly not so relaxed that she couldn't stand on her own power, and then she looked past him to Chromia's prone form._

_"This wasn't a good time for a 'Con ambush," Nightfire said._

_As Ratchet hurried out of the room to begin preparing the med bay, he said, "It wasn't an ambush."_

_Nightfire followed after him, Wheeljack already making preparations of his own as Ratchet rushed to help him. She noticed that First Aid was nowhere in sight..._

_"Take that table, there," he ordered Nightfire. Her primary functioning kicked in and she subconsciously began gathering tools and anesthetics needed for treatments and surgery. Ratchet began preping a table next to hers._

_"What do you mean, it wasn't an ambush?" Nightfire continued the conversation as her hands seemed to take a mind of their own, unsubspacing a syringe here, grabbing a tool there..._

_Ratchet didn't pause in his own preparations as he answered her, "It was a rescue attempt."_

_Nightfire's hands stopped as she stared at Ratchet. He didn't look up at her, his own hands quickly gathering things he needed, arranging them here and there. She knew, immediately, who the attempt was for, and her spark sank..._

_"What was Prime thinking?!" she practically yelled. As the initial shock faded, her hands found life again, moving quickly here and there. Not stopping her work again, she shook her head, somewhat babbling to herself, "A rescue mission from Trypticon. It's Trypticon for Pit's sake! Trypticon's impenetrable!"_

_It was Ratchet's turn to pause. He looked at her, wondering what she knew about Trypticon that they had been missing. Several of Optimus's officers, especially Prowl, were very suspicious of her. Adding to the fact that she had used Optimus for her own devices the last time he had called on her, they had decided that she didn't need to know any details on the rescue mission that soon took shape once she provided them with the information on where Elita One was being held. In fact, Nightfire didn't even know there was a rescue mission planned at all. She knew that they were working on figuring out how to get to Elita, but that was a given. The actual plans were kept from her._

_"You knew about this!" Nightfire suddenly accused, realization of what they were keeping from her becoming evident._

_Ratchet got back to his work, ignoring her. Obviously, he knew. He would have to know, just in case something went wrong. He had wanted to go on the mission. A medic would need to be there, but so as not to rouse any suspicions in Nightfire and also because Ratchet was concentrating on Ironhide and Chromia, warriors Optimus desperately needed to remain intact, Optimus took First Aid. First Aid was a capable medic, and Ratchet signed off on it without question. _

_Without warning, something very large and very solid hit Ratchet squarely in his right shoulder. He was knocked backwards, the blow dazing him as he tried to regain his balance, the object clanging loudly to the floor. Wheeljack looked up from what he was doing, the sudden commotion distracting him, in time to see a wrench used to work on the largest of mechs hit the floor right next to Ratchet, the mech staggering back..._

_The wielder of said weapon exploded, "You put Chromia in terminal lock when you knew there was a mission?!" _

_Ratchet grabbed his shoulder, wincing in pain, "Primus, femme!"_

_An optic ridge went up on Wheeljack's faceplates. Nightfire was one strong femme._

_"What were you thinking?!" she hollored. _

_"It was carefully planned. They weren't expecting to fail..." Ratchet said as he was still trying to clear his head._

_"Or maybe you Autobots are too arrogant for your own good!" she yelled. To think that they could infiltrate such a place and come out unscathed...maybe Prime __**was**__ losing his processor._

_They stood staring at each other, Ratchet rubbing his shoulder. Wheeljack just watched them, not sure whether he should intervene or stay out of it._

_In a quieter, more even tone, Nightfire said next, "Primus help you if Ironhide is among the wounded." _

_If Ironhide became injured, pulling Chromia out of terminal lock would be that much harder, if not impossible, depending on the severity of the injury and the amount of energy he might have lost. It was something that she had thought of, and that even Ratchet had thought of, given the nature of Ironhide's vendetta, but he had not injured himself up to that point, so they chose to hope that he had a good chance to continue to remain physically whole. However, if he was being assigned to missions, then the chances of him becoming wounded were that much greater, and if Ratchet knew about it, then his decision to put Chromia in terminal lock at that time was a very bad one..._

_"He won't be," Ratchet said evenly, "He wasn't on the mission."_

_They had decided that Ironhide was too much of a liability. They were supposed to be in and out of Trypticon quietly. Taking a Decepticon-blood-thirsty mech along wasn't a good idea. In all actuality, though, no one even knew where Ironhide was anyway. That was Ratchet's immediate problem with Chromia, of course._

_Nightfire seemed genuinely relieved. Ratchet was still uncertain as to her real concern, but he was beginning to realize, especially with her presence in the morgue, that Nightfire had a spark beneath that usually cold surface. She looked towards the room Chromia was in..._

_"He'll be here," Ratchet stated confidently, not sure if his words were or even could be reassuring to her. _

_Ironhide felt that he had failed Chromia and Ratchet knew that too well. Ratchet also knew that Ironhide would never fail her again._

_"It's a huge risk, Ratchet," Nightfire said quietly._

_"Don't worry," Ratchet got back to his preparations, "I can multi-task. Besides," he raised his optics to look at her, "I'm not the Autobot CMO for nothing."_

_A small smile formed on her faceplates, "So I've heard."_

_8888_


	37. Needing A Miracle

**AUTHOR'S NOTES **

Huge thanks to the reviewers of ch. 36: **Katanagirl16, Bluebird Soaring, Lazy Leggy Poo, flamingmarsh, xCubicZirconia, theshadowcat, TransFlashbacks, plenoptic, Dragowolf, Independent.C., CuteKittten, DarkDanc3r, Lecidre, Xerios, **and** Hearts of Eternity.**

Responses to reviews for ch. 36 have been moved to 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' on my biopage. I cannot thank you all enough!

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You folks are awesome!

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **Lady Tecuma. **The characters are different, but the name is hers.

NOTE: Jetfire in this story is still a part of the Decepticons, as it seems he is in the next movie, so I thought I could utilize that for something important. I changed his name in chapter 10 to that of Silverbolt so as not to be contradictory, in case anyone remembers that one line in chapter 10. Thanks to **Hearts of Eternity** for helping me brainstorm his role in the story. There is also a slight homage to the 1986 movie (but don't worry, for those of you that don't like that movie. It doesn't interrupt the flow of the story).

Italics are a flashback. This chapter is a flashback immediately following last chapter.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 37

Needing A Miracle

by Litahatchee

_First Aid burst through the door and the med bay was thrown into chaos as the injured mechs were brought in. Nightfire noticed that it looked like there had been ten mechs on the rescue team. She recognized the blue and white Mirage instantly. She didn't know him personally, but she had helped get information for his team when they were first trying to find Elita's location. She had no doubt that Mirage and his three-mech team had already been at Trypticon before Optimus arrived as part of the other seven._

_Mirage and a silver mech that she did not know or recognize were uninjured. They stood outside the door out of the way. Another mech that she did not recognize was dead on arrival. First Aid placed him on a berth on the other side of the med bay. He pulled a screen around him so that no one could see._

_It looked as if Ratchet, First Aid, and Wheeljack were going to be working on two mechs each. One of the injured kept staring at her. It had to be Prime's Tactical Officer, Prowl. She would recognize the emotionless stare of a logical mech anywhere. It was unnerving. It reminded her too much of Shockwave._

_Optimus entered the med bay last. He had numerous injuries, especially to his midsection. He looked haggard, which was to be expected from a wounded mech, but he was extremely exhausted. It was an exhaustion not just born of intense battle, but of his tortured spark. He sat on the berth that Nightfire was attending. She couldn't suppress a momentary flash of surprise that spread across her faceplates. _

_Despite what she did, he still trusted her. He was showing her his ultimate trust by allowing her to work on his frame, something that would be easy for her to sabotage, but he clearly trusted that she wouldn't do such a thing. She took it as forgiveness for the tapping incident. However, she suspected that he had forgiven her as soon as she had left that room. It was who he was. She saw that in his mind. If he could already forgive Megatron for what he was doing, then her actions would be easy for him to forgive. _

_Prowl looked like he might protest, suspicion showing in his optics. The sudden scowl on his face was strangely comforting to Nightfire. If he could scowl in suspicion of her, then that meant that he had more emotion than Shockwave. She became more relaxed and did not mind his stare as much._

_She went into medic mode and started assessing the Prime's injuries. He had several nasty burns to his chestplates that she couldn't determine how far they might have caused damage internally. She paused when she realized that she would need to open his chestplates. She had seen his mind, but now she would see his spark. She could barely keep her emotions in check, the largest of which was disbelief. When she was a youngling, if someone had told her that she ever would get the chance to so much as meet the Prime, must less be tapping him and looking into his chestplates, she would have thought that they were crazy. _

_Nightfire simply ploughed on, reaching up and pulling open his chest plating without a word, as any medic would do. Optimus Prime didn't protest. He didn't even flinch. He was putting all his trust in her, just as he would with Ratchet. _

_It was Prowl who protested, saying, "Optimus, I don't think that she should be the one to..."_

_Optimus simply put up his hand, shaking his head slightly. Prowl was instantly quiet again. _

_Nightfire had no intentions of harming him, and Optimus knew that. Some things about her might have been questionable, but Optimus had seen her mind too..._

_His spark was the most brilliant spark she had ever seen. She didn't know anyone's spark could burn that brightly. It seemed that everything about this mech was legendary. Putting that absurd thought out of her mind, she could see that the burns had made it through the plating. She began scanning his various internal systems for damage. Not surprisingly, she found a few severed wires that had been burned through. She got replacement wiring from her operating tray and began the task of replacing them. _

_One particular line needed to be replaced below his spark casing. She thought about how much of a close call that one was as her hands dove deep within his chest cavity to clamp off the flow of energon into the section she was about to replace. As she did that, she noticed a few extra lines that she didn't recognize. Nothing in her anatomy programming could tell her what those lines were for. One of them showed some signs of slight burning, but she didn't think it needed replacing. She followed it to see what it was attached to..._

_...and froze. She blinked a few times as she stared at it. It was round, made of the smoothest substance she had ever seen. A handle-like structure was attached to both ends of it. Within its core shone the brilliance of the multiverse. The more she looked into it, the more it seemed to be looking into her, like it recognized her. She had never been in the presence of the AllSpark, but she had heard stories of what that was like. Bots had said about how the AllSpark knew everyone in existence and that one could feel that recognition when standing next to it. She felt like that now..._

_"Is this what I think it is?" Nightfire asked in awe._

_Optimus looked to see what she was looking at. He nodded his head, "Yes."_

_Prowl jumped off of his berth, First Aid trying to push him back on it. "Prowl?! I'm not finished with you, yet."_

_"I demand that someone other than this 'Con work on Optimus. Her having access to The Matrix is unacceptable!"_

_The silver mech came in and laid a comforting hand on Prowl's shoulder. "It's okay, Prowl. He trusts her, so we can too."_

_"It is not logical to trust a Decepticon," he said._

_"Prowl, sit down!" Ratchet demanded. "We are up to our elbows here. We don't have time for your logic."_

_Ratchet glanced in Nightfire's direction, but Jazz was right. If Optimus trusted her, so could they. And Ratchet's experience with her told him that she really didn't mean any harm for any of them. The Matrix was just as important to the Decepticons as it was to the Autobots. Her curiosity was justified. Prowl was uncharacteristically overreacting._

_Prowl backed down and they all got back to what they were doing._

_Unfazed by certain suspicions of her, Nightfire remained in awe of what she was seeing._

_"It's linked to you," she practically whispered._

_"Of course. It's linked to every Prime," Optimus said._

_She glanced up at him, somewhat miffed. She knew that. Everyone knew that._

_"No, I mean, it's physically linked to you," she clarified. She followed several more lines from the Matrix to see where all they attached. One, that she could see, was attached directly to his spark casing. "The theory may be true," she said softly, almost to herself._

_She looked up to see Audio Flash glancing at her. They made optic contact briefly. He obviously heard what she said. The scientist, no doubt, knew which theory she was referring to..._

_"Which theory?" Optimus said, a bit conversationally. "There are so many of them, even I don't know them all." Nor did he know what all was possible, but he kept that to himself. The Matrix was a mysterious entity whose power was likely to never be known._

_A grimace suddenly crossed Prime's features, followed by a painful groan, then anger. He rolled a little towards her._

_Alarmed, Nightfire asked, "Are you okay?"_

_Optimus didn't say anything for several moments and then, "He's gloating."_

_Nightfire's voice caught in her throat. She knew, without a doubt, that Optimus was referring to Megatron enjoying his victories, using Elita as a means for that enjoyment._

_Nightfire growled in disgust, her CPU interfacing line unraveling from her wrist. "Want me to give him a piece of my mind?"_

_Optimus gave her a look she couldn't read. "Sure," he replied sarcastically, "Why not? It went so well last time."_

_Nightfire dropped her arm. "Sarcasm does not become you."_

_"And subtlety does not become you," Optimus responded._

_"Oh, you misinterpreted. I'm way past being subtle," she retorted._

_"Okay...the truth, then," Optimus continued. "I was angry with you." He was referring to her using him to get at Megatron._

_"Oh, I got that part," Nightfire responded. It was plainly obvious how angry he was when he stood up, knocking her down._

_"But," Optimus spoke over her, "She wasn't. In fact, she thought it was fitting."_

_Nightfire paused, feeling skeptical about that admission. "Somehow, I doubt that from a femme like her." She certainly didn't think Elita would be agreeable to what she did._

_"Lots of things have changed," Optimus said softly._

_"Yes...they have," Nightfire whispered back._

_Optimus lay in silence as Nightfire continued replacing wiring and energon lines. After some length, he looked at her again. _

_"Thank you," he said softly._

_Sighing, Nightfire leaned back. "Oh, don't thank me. You know I deceived you both on purpose."_

_"Thank you for calming her," Optimus continued._

_"My presence is far from calm," Nightfire retorted._

_"Well, it was still a comfort to her and that's all that matters to me." What Nightfire did allowed Elita to gloat for once. It wasn't in her character to do so, but her situation lent itself to the change. It was a small victory that she held dearly to._

_Nightfire made optic contact with him. His optics were warm, thankful. She nodded her head. "You're welcome, then."_

_They became quiet again as Nightfire continued her task. She could hear Ratchet's gruff swearing at something that was giving him fits and could see the other medics in her periphery, working to exact the repairs they were doing._

_"I had to go after her," Prime spoke again._

_"I know," Nightfire said, "You don't have to explain to me."_

_"They have disabled all of her comm systems," he continued anyway. "Despite that, communication with me is still possible through our bond." She already knew that Megatron had been using that to get at him, so he didn't bother to say it. "But, he's been trying to prevent her from communicating with me on her own. He also hates that I can communicate with her, comforting her," Optimus looked at Nightfire, "and that others can too, through me." _

_Nightfire fidgeted a little under his gaze. _

_"He turned her over to one of his top scientists for experimentation in breaking communication between bonded couples," Optimus got to the point. "I couldn't allow her to become an experiment."_

_Nightfire's energon ran cold._

_"Is something like that even possible?" The worry in Optimus's voice was very evident. "Is it possible to go so far as to break a spark bond?" She could even see the worry in Optimus's optics. He was obviously so desperate to go after her no matter what._

_"I don't know," Nightfire answered truthfully. "I don't think it's possible to fully break a spark bond." She thought about the possibility of breaking communications between a bonded couple. "I suppose there are certain programs that could be tweaked to mask communication, though. Have you lost comm with her?"_

_"She blocks me out during the worst of it, but, no, when she's open, we are still as open to each other as ever...maybe even more so."_

_"Megatron has two top scientists," Nightfire supplied. "Shockwave and Jetfire. Only Shockwave would..."_

_"No," Optimus interrupted. "It's a mech named Jetfire."_

_Nightfire shook her head in disbelief. "He usually refuses to experiment on sentient beings, much less a Cybertronian."_

_"It's him, I know it is. His is the only name I get from her. It's confusing, but she never thinks of Shockwave." Optimus paused. "What do you know of Jetfire?"_

_"He thinks a lot like you, actually. I always thought he had too many Autobot traits," Nightfire answered._

_Optimus's optic ridges knitted in thought. "Why does he stay?"_

_"He has strong familial ties to his brother," Nightfire replied, not volunteering the name of his brother._

_Optimus actually chuckled, the sound surprising Nightfire. She didn't get what was so funny._

_"I guess that's where we disagree, then," Optimus said with a smile._

_It took a moment for Nightfire to realize what he was referring to. Then she thought about Optimus and his own brother, pit against each other as leaders of two separate factions with different ideals, locked against each other in an eternal war._

_She nodded her head in understanding. "That's the only thing you two disagree on."_

_"And if it were Shockwave?" Optimus asked, wondering what would happen if she found herself under Shockwave._

_Nightfire glanced at Prowl. "Shockwave would do whatever is logical."_

_Megatron's two top scientists balanced each other out. One wouldn't have the ability to take emotional reactions into account, the other would be keenly aware of it. It was somewhat ironic for Megatron to have it set up that way, but perhaps it was a mirror of his own inner struggles. Nightfire briefly wondered if Prowl had a balance._

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_No more than a joor had passed, once things were settled in the med bay, when Optimus Prime called a meeting. Several of the key Autobots were there, minus Ironhide. _

_"I have called you all here to announce a few things," Optimus started._

_Nightfire was sitting next to Ratchet, and her presence did not go unnoticed._

_"Why is she here?" someone asked from the crowd._

_"I'll get to that," Optimus answered before quickly getting to the point, "I fear Elita's situation may be clouding my judgement. I cannot think straight while she is suffering at the hands of my brother. It is exactly what he wants. I thought I wouldn't give in; that I could handle it. I cannot." He paused, the sad side of him showing through his optics. "I'm going to turn the Matrix over to Ultra Magnus." A collective gasp could be heard throughout the crowd. _

_Nightfire's optics widened in surprise as well. "The city commander?" she asked._

_Prowl's voice cut in, "I don't advise discussing this..."_

_"Yes," Optimus interrupted him, "the city commander." Optimus then looked directly at her. "What do you know about Trypticon that we are missing?"_

_Nightfire's optics widened in surprise again. Prime was wasting no time in getting to the point. He was well past formalities. Nightfire glanced at Ratchet, who stirred slightly. Ratchet, no doubt, had told Optimus that she may know something about Trypticon that caused their mission to fail._

_All optics turned to Nightfire, and she was beginning to feel that a slight interrogation of her was about to start. It wasn't that she had been trying to hide information from these Autobots. It was just that no one ever asked her. She didn't always know what they wanted to know and when. She didn't have all the answers anyway. She was a good medic, so she performed that duty for them. However, she did know what Trypticon was._

_"You could ask your city commander," she said._

_Prowl stirred and the silver mech glanced in his direction._

_"What does he know of it?" the silver mech asked. _

_Nightfire noticed the exchange and wondered if the silver mech was the balance to Prowl. "Nothing, per se," she answered. "He would know the nature of the city quite well, though."_

_Optimus Prime suddenly seemed to be frozen in place, fearful that what she was insinuating could be a reality._

_"Don't look so surprised," she said to him. "We know what Metroplex is." Metroplex was an Autobot city, but it was a special city. _

_Optimus stared at her, his fears coming true with her every word._

_Nightfire misinterpreted his expression as one of misunderstanding her. "Do I have to spell it out for you?" she said. "Trypticon is a living city."_

_Just like Metroplex, Trypticon had a spark, independent thought, and was capable of transformation. Trypticon was a mech. His alternate mode was that of the Decepticon city with the same name._

_The Autobots gathered in the room gasped again. Not even their best spies ever came across that information. No wonder the mission failed. Trypticon knew they were coming before they even got there. Security for a living city, especially when the city itself could think and reason, was unsurpassed._

_"How do you know?" It was Mirage who spoke up this time. They had never heard that from anywhere and he had laid witness to a lot of Decepticon interrogations. None of them seemed to possess any knowledge of something like that. However, none of them had shown that they possessed the knowledge that the Autobots had a living city, either. The fact that they knew that was disturbing._

_"Not all Decepticons know that Trypticon is sentient," Nightfire said next. _

_Mirage realized how that information was kept a secret among the Decepticons. If only a few knew, then the Autobot spies were less likely to come across that information. _

_"Then, how do you know, Nightfire?" Optimus asked._

_"Because I wrote a program for him," she answered with a slight shrug._

_"You're a programmer?" Prowl asked. "I thought only scientists can be programmers."_

_"Medics can be too," Ratchet spoke up, "especially if they are going to be programming sparklings._

_"My primary function is science," Nightfire informed them._

_Ratchet sat up straighter. He didn't know that. She glanced in his direction._

_"Science, experimentation, and medicine aren't usually separated in the Decepticon faction," she said somewhat quietly._

_Both Ratchet and Wheeljack stirred a little uncomfortably. It suddenly dawned on Wheeljack why she initially feared she was an Autobot experiment. He visibly shuddered at the thought._

_"What was the program?" Optimus asked, stearing the conversation back on track._

_"It was just the basic transformation sequence," she answered._

_"Who programmed the security?" a red mech she did not recognize asked next._

_"I believe it was Jetfire."_

_Optimus rose an optic ridge. It seemed that mech was coming up a lot lately._

_Ratchet asked her another question. "How did you end up at Floatilla?"_

_"I am not a soldier," Nightfire answered. She gave him a look that suggested that that didn't mean she couldn't fight. "As the war became more fierce, all non-essential personnel were either moved elsewhere or...reprogrammed into soldiers. All Decepticons are expected to know how to fight no matter what their function, but Deluge saw to it that I ended up at Floatilla." Nightfire excelled at Floatilla as a medic and sparkling programmer, specializing in family-unit medicine until she became the CMO. _

_"Megatron wasn't concerned about what you knew about Trypticon?" Wheeljack asked._

_"Megatron knew my loyalty and was not concerned about me divulging any secrets at Floatilla. He didn't really think that the bots at Floatilla mattered anyway. It was a lowly assignment that I didn't want, but Deluge insisted." She paused before saying, "Once I got there, I found out otherwise."_

_Optimus sat down. He knew all too well how impenetrable a living city could be. _

_"We are going to need a miracle to get Elita out of there."_

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AN: I don't know who exactly wrote programs for and created Trypticon, but I thought what I have here sounded like it could fit, so please don't burn me too badly if characters aren't doing what canon says. There is a reason for doing it this way, of course, so I hope you are all agreeable to this chapter. Thank you!


	38. Wishful Thinking

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**:

Thanks to the wonderful reviewers of ch. 37: **Lazy Leggy Poo, flamingmarsh, xCubicZirconia, theshadowcat, plenoptic, BluebirdSoaring, GBscientist, TransFlashbacks, CuteKittten, Xerios, Violetlight, Saya Moonshadow, Lecidre, Flameshield,** **Prime Revolver, Dragowolf, Hearts of Eternity, **and** Kesera.**

All review responses for chapter 37 have been moved to 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' on my biopage. I cannot thank you all enough!

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Sweet!

**Disclaimer: **See ch. 37

Huge thanks goes to **Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **Lady Tecuma. **The characters are different in each of our stories, but the name is hers.

This chapter is back in the present. Regular print is present time. _Italics_ are a flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 38

Wishful Thinking

by Litahatchee

Ratchet shook himself to clear his CPU of the waking memory recalls. Not only did his CPU interface with Chromia trigger recalls within her CPU, but in his as well. The memories were vivid, saddening, but he couldn't let that distract him right now. Thinking of Nightfire was one thing. He had come to terms with what he couldn't change, with what he couldn't prevent. However, thinking of Elita was distracting. He would need to attend to Optimus soon...

Ratchet prepared the weld alloy with what he had available to him. He and Nightfire had been able to come up with a stronger alloy that had allowed for less replacements. The stronger alloy was much better for Chromia, and less replacements were easier on her frame. However, he didn't have any on hand now, and the resources that he did have were going to make a weld that was even weaker than what he was initially using for her in the first place, before his and Nightfire's stronger alloy.

If he was going to have to continue with this weaker alloy, he was going to have to replace the weld twice as much as he had had to after her initial recovery. That meant that this weld was going to cause her frame twice as many problems as she'd ever had with this injury. It was better than nothing, but Ratchet sighed to himself in frustration as he scrapped the new weld mix he'd just made to see if he could make something a little stronger, at least.

Chromia was locked in her recharge state and now lay with her chestplating open, recharging somewhat soundly. Ratchet checked through each of her systems, now that he could examine her properly without her being uncomfortable. He was not able to examine her as thoroughly as he wanted when Ironhide's human, William Lennox, was present.

Several systems in her frame were not performing to optimal standards. Unfortunately, that was normal for her ever since her injury at Floatilla. Joining with Ironhide would help her feel better, of course, but getting her frame systems to one hundred percent optimal performance was no longer possible, even on her best orns.

Ratchet scanned her carry chamber. It was useless, but he checked it anyway. A carry hold was formed from condensed metal that came off the main frame of the bot when programmed during mating. This was the reason it was permanent once it was forged. As such, it was stronger than a bot's frame. It protected a sparkling very well. A carrier could be completely crushed, and the carry hold would still hold up, the sparkling inside remaining safe. Usually a carry hold would be hard for someone to force open, but with a mech as strong as Megatron, Chromia didn't stand a chance in keeping it closed off.

When the spear pierced through Chromia's abdomen, the stronger metal of the carry hold was pushed to the side. It had been damaged, but all the pieces were still there and mostly intact, so Ratchet repaired it.

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_"If you think she can't produce another sparkling, why did you repair the carry hold?" Nightfire asked Ratchet. _

_"Because it was fixable," Ratchet replied gruffly. _

_Part of him wanted her to leave him alone and another part of him was curious at whatever harassment she might throw out next. In the case of her question, if something was fixable, he had a tendency to fix it, whether it was usable or not. _

_Ratchet paused, "Why? You think she can have another?"_

_Nightfire shrugged, "Not with her frame in the condition that it is. But, her spark is going to heal, given time."_

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Unlike Nightfire, Chromia's sparkshock was not going to kill her. Ironhide and Chromia would always suffer from their sparkshock, but it was nowhere as severe as the sparkshock caused from losing a sparkmate. Over time, their sparkshock would subside, their sparks normalizing within the parameters of a healthy spark. Their sparks would be on the low end of the spectrum for a healthy spark, but they'd still be healthy.

Thinking about sparkshock and the sudden memory of Nightfire, Ratchet paused sadly. There was nothing he could have done for Nightfire. Wheeljack had proposed some ideas on how to try and block the dead part of her bond, but Nightfire did not want that added stress, especially since they weren't sure it would work anyway. She was adamant about not being experimented on, nor did she want to dishonor Deluge's memory. Ratchet understood that and the proposals were dropped.

Ratchet sighed heavily and then busied himself with trying to mix a stronger alloy for the weld. He had already tried several mixtures, none of which were satisfactory. He initially thought that he could have Chromia's weld replaced by the time Ironhide got there, Ironhide assumingly having been alerted from the little scare Ratchet gave her earlier. Now he was going to have to ask Ironhide to wait, assuming Ironhide was coming. The mech hadn't shown up yet...

Ratchet glanced suspiciously at Chromia. He was fairly certain she had reached out to Ironhide when he threatened her with terminal lock, but he couldn't be sure with her. Chromia could be very sneaky. When it came to Ironhide, she could be amazingly stubborn.

He did not want to try terminal lock again, though. He would never tell Ironhide and Chromia that, of course. He wanted them both to believe that he was willing and ready to enact it any time he deemed it necessary. However, while it did end in a joining, giving the desired affect of helping them physically, it didn't help them mentally at all. They still managed to continue to avoid their issues the last, and only, time he did it.

Initially, they needed the physical joinings in order for Chromia to survive, but now that she was surviving just fine, they needed to address their mental issues. Terminal lock may bring Ironhide running, but it could be another several thousand vorns before they were back to square one...like now. They had to address their problems, not avoid them.

He didn't know what they experienced when they were joined, but they _had_ finally started joining on their own. Ratchet had thought that they had come to some sort of terms with their loss, but since they were still having issues with each other over it now, then they certainly didn't go about something right.

Shaking his head, Ratchet got back to the weld alloy. This would be his fifth attempt at something stronger. He didn't feel very positive about this one either, but it was going to be the best he could do for the time being. He wondered where First Aid was.

First Aid had been Chromia's primary medic while the AllSpark mission was underway. He would have the alloy Ratchet needed. However, he was nowhere to be seen, and Chromia hadn't said anything at all about any of the others since she arrived. She had spent most of the time she'd been on Earth in recharge. As many questions as Optimus was sure to have, neither he nor Ratchet was going to disturb that which she obviously needed. Ratchet thought of Elita again, unsure of whether to be hoping for the best, or fearing the worst.

Grumbling to himself about the sub-standard alloy, he loaded his welder with it anyway and moved on with his task. He carefully removed the old weld, removing the bottom panel of her spark casing that First Aid had used to repair it with all that time ago. Ratchet quickly shored up the hole with a temporary panel so that her spark wouldn't be damaged from prolonged exposure. As he cleaned the bottom panel of any residual welding, he examined her spark.

As far as he could tell, Chromia's spark had healed quite well over the amount of time that had passed since Floatilla, at least, physically. She was still suffering from sparkshock, of course, but it wasn't nearly as severe as it used to be, and he knew that both she and Ironhide would have that condition for the rest of their lives anyway. However, the pulse was normal, the color was normal, everything seemed to be within normal parameters for a healthy spark. The main issue she was having was deprivation, but that would be easily overcome through joining with her mate.

Ratchet tried contacting Ironhide again, grumbling to himself when all he got was the message saying that Ironhide's com wasn't functioning.

"Not functioning, my aft," Ratchet muttered.

Ratchet looked at her spark again, running several scans over it. Chromia's spark certainly bore witness to its struggles, but it was vibrant and alive with intensity. Perhaps Nightfire was right. The spark was still capable of conception. It was the frame that wasn't.

Ratchet looked over the place where Chromia's interfacing port used to be and couldn't help but hang his head in sadness again. When he removed it all that time ago, he had no idea that one orn they'd be looking at her as one of the very last femmes in existence. The port wasn't fixable at all, but he was still full of regret that he could not save that part of her that could very well save them all.

The sad irony was not lost on him. Here they were, possibly the last Cybertronians in the multi-verse, facing total extinction with the loss of the AllSpark. Then, a bonded femme with a healthy spark shows up, but there would be no way for her mate to get it the information it needed to run the programs to split. All connections had to be made. Without that interfacing port, it wouldn't matter if she had the healthiest spark anyone had ever seen. That port was the main reason that they couldn't conceive.

Ratchet could replace a CPU port. He could replace a CPU interfacing cable. He could replace any small data port. He could even replace an interfacing cable. However, he could not replace an interfacing port. The entire interfacing system on a frame consisted of a cable and a port, but fitting Chromia with a cable would be useless if he couldn't fit her with a port as well. That specific port was just too complicated. It was intricately connected to every single system, function, and sensory ending a bot possessed, to include the CPU, regardless of the fact that the CPU had its own port...

Ratchet paused in his thinking...to include the CPU... There was something about that...He was missing something. It had to be something so obvious that it was staring him in the face, or something so complicated that he'd never figure it out. He couldn't pinpoint what it was. He searched through Nightfire's and his own files on replacement parts, replacing parts, and replacing ports. She had a little more on energy and information exchange during spark mating than he had, but he didn't think that was what he needed. Ratchet stared intently at Chromia's frame. He felt like he was right on the edge of discovering something, but he couldn't grasp what it was.

Snorting in frustration, he let it go. It was just wishful thinking and he knew it. Even if Ironhide and Chromia could concieve, her spark casing wouldn't be able to handle it. Not only that, but there would be no guarantee that the sparkling would develop properly. Even if Chromia weren't having health problems, Ratchet wasn't sure that they would want another one anyway, not after all they'd been through with losing the one they had. To make things even more complicated, the two weren't exactly reveling in their reunion.

Ratchet thought about Elita again, and hoped to Primus that she was alright. She had her own issues, but she had been perfectly, one hundred percent, healthy in every way when Optimus had to leave her for the AllSpark mission. Not only that, but she and Optimus were always close, no matter what...

Completely dropping his current line of thinking, Ratchet went back to thinking of ways to make Chromia more comfortable. He needed to get his thoughts back to reality anyway. Wishful thinking was not a luxury they had.

Chromia was always in pain, a fact that she hid from Ironhide quite well. If Ratchet could just replace her spark casing entirely, her quality of life would improve immeasurably. He hadn't wanted to perform the procedure in the past. It was a fairly normal procedure, but with someone with injuries as extensive as hers, there were too many risks involved.

Ratchet's main concern with replacing her entire spark casing was possible shrapnel. He removed every shard of the spear and spark casing that had entered her spark, but he couldn't be sure if he got it all. If there was any left, a piece could become dislodged during the transfer of her spark and prove to be fatal, killing one of the last bonded pairs in existence. He felt that her spark would be strong enough to handle the procedure after several joinings with Ironhide, but he still couldn't be sure about that shrapnel.

He had been thinking about ways to counter the shrapnel possibility ever since she arrived to Earth. Perhaps a continuous magnetic pulse, directed the right way, could stabilize any possible shards and keep them from moving and damaging her spark during transfer. It was still very risky, but it would be worth it for both her and Ironhide if it worked.

When Chromia first arrived in the med bay, right before she revealed that Bumblebee knew the Decepticon femme CMO of Floatilla...

...Ratchet's mind, once again, drifted to memories of Nightfire. Several things about Nightfire always puzzled him. Her spark declined drastically, taking her systems with it, as she succombed to the sparkshock from losing her mate. She fought it and her sense of purpose kept her going longer than many of the other sparkshocked patients that he'd had at the time. He was able to help her with what he could of her failing systems, once she'd finally allowed it, but there was nothing he could do for her actual spark's decline. Then, almost suddenly, it stabilized.

Ratchet had initially thought that the stabilization was because of him. He realized, later, that that wasn't the case. He could only help sooth her systems. He couldn't do anything for her spark. He just knew that her spark had stabilized. It was still declining, but not at the alarming rate that it had been. He didn't know how or why, but Nightfire had survived a lot longer than anyone knew she would. She had survived a lot longer than anyone knew she even could.

All femmes had a spark bond to all younglings. A spark bond with a sparkling, the femme-sparkling bond, would certainly stabilize a femme's spark suffering from losing her sparkmate. The femme-sparkling bond would not have made her spark better, but that type of bond would slow the deterioration considerably.

She did not have a sparkling, though. Ratchet knew that for a fact, but he scanned through the memories she gave him anyway. There was nothing about a sparkling anywhere in her memories...

Ratchet looked at Chromia in puzzlement. Chromia was so sure that Bumblebee knew Nightfire, but none of them even knew Bumblebee existed until Nightfire was gone. Besides that, he had estimated that Bumblebee was about two vorns old when Optimus found him. Nightfire's spark had stabilized well before that. Even if she had been care-taking a sparkling, it wouldn't have been Bumblebee...unless Bumblebee was older than he originally thought. Even so, Bumblebee had been nourished and carried in a carry hold, which would mean his creaters were caring for him. Nightfire did not have a carry hold and, even if she did, Bumblebee would not have been able to be nourished from it. Such a function would only be possible if Bumblebee were hers. Ratchet knew she didn't have a carry hold; he knew it on a personal level.

If Nightfire knew Bumblebee, that would mean that the creators had carried the sparkling for longer than two vorns. It would also mean that Nightfire knew who Bumblebee's creators were. Ratchet searched through her memories again...

Nothing...There was nothing about a sparkling anywhere. It was conceivable that she left that part of her memory out, like Chromia suggested, but he didn't want to think of that. It made him sad to think that she'd keep secrets like that from him.

Optimus was the one that brought them the sparkling. Ratchet made a mental note to specifically ask Optimus where he found Bumblebee.

For now, Ratchet brought his attention back to Chromia. Bumblebee could help Chromia, and that made him happy. Also, if Bumblebee really was suffering from sparkshock, as Chromia suggested, whether it was from the loss of Nightfire or not, then Chromia could help Bumblebee too.

As Ratchet worked to weld the metal plate back into place, he checked the structural integrity of the damaged spark casing. When she had first come in the med bay, before any mention of Nightfire, Ratchet had tried to tell her that he thought he had figured out a way to replace her spark casing. However, she needed to be close to 90 percent for the procedure and she may have to join with Ironhide several times before she would even be 75 percent.

He hadn't realized how bad things were between her and Ironhide. He might not resort to terminal lock again, but he wasn't beyond locking the two up in their room. Time was something they all had, now that the war seemed to be over, and he'd keep them locked up together for as long as it took. Of course, Chromia had promised him that she'd go to Ironhide. He'd give her that choice, but if she didn't do it, then there would be Pit to pay from Ratchet.

Ratchet remembered the time he told First Aid that it was going to be a long road to recovery. He never would have imagined just how long it was truly going to be.

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	39. Hands of Encouragement

**posted March 14, 2009**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**:

[EDIT on April 17, 2009: All review responses have been moved to 'REVIEW RESPONSES for ch. 38' on my biopage. I cannot thank you all enough!]

Thanks to the amazing reviewers of ch. 38: **Flameshield, Prime Revolver, Violetlight, flamingmarsh, plenoptic, Katanagirl16, Bluebird Soaring, theshadowcat, CuteKittten, Jadedsnowtiger, lady tecuma, Fae Child19, TransFlashbacks, Xerios, Lazy Leggy is Lazy, **and **Dragowolf**.

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**Total visiting countries** during the month of **February: **USA, Canada, UK, Finland, Germany, Australia, Costa Rica, Poland, Singapore, Taiwan, Sweden, South Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Indonesia, Norway, Philippines, Austria, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Israel, Spain, Mexico, Slovakia, South Africa, Portugal, Italy, New Zealand, Barbados, France, Denmark, and Ireland. WOW!

**Disclaimer: **See ch. 37

Huge thanks goes to **Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, **and** Phoenix13 **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **Lady Tecuma. **The characters are different in each of our stories, but the name is hers.

**NOTE**: It has been so long since we've seen Ironhide, that I put what he was doing at the end of chapter 27, the last time we saw him, at the beginning of the chapter here. Plus, what he has been doing in the present and what Chromia has been doing in the present are all happening at the same time. So, it flows well to just reiterate a small part of that chapter here before the intense flashbacks that Ironhide has. The repeated parts of chapter 27 are denoted by the first pagebreak. If you don't remember what motivated him to go searching for Chromia, you might want to re-read chapter 27. If you are reading the story from start to now in one sitting, you probably already remember, but since I cannot post chapters fast enough, a lot of time has passed for those of you that have been following the story chapter by chapter as they are posted. So, this is just a helpful little reminder *smile* Thank you!

Chapter WARNING: This chapter is rather violent. Ironhide is certainly entertaining his dark side here. Also, if there is one thing I've been trying to convey in this story, it's that good and evil aren't really always so black and white. Not all Decepticons are always bad. Not all Autobots are always good. There's definitely a gray area. Both sides of every conflict think that they are the good guys.

Regular print is present time. _Italics_ are a flashback. Long chapter! Woo hoo!

Night Fire

Chapter 39

Hands of Encouragement

by Litahatchee

Ironhide reached out to Chromia, but she was still blocking him. He tried to push through the barrier again, but she was locked up tight. That didn't discourage him. If she could find him in a galaxy full of billions of stars, he could find her on a ship with less than a hundred rooms.

Ironhide headed towards Optimus's office, first. Chromia hadn't spoken with Optimus yet, so that was the most likely place Ironhide thought she'd end up.

For some odd reason, or maybe not so odd since he'd just been thinking about him, he thought of Ratchet. It was unlikely that Ratchet had seen her again since she arrived, but Ironhide knew Ratchet wouldn't be happy with her condition if he did run into her, nor would he be happy with Ironhide's.

Ironhide accessed a memory with one of the more extreme lengths that Ratchet went to in order to get Ironhide to physically stay with Chromia during that initial recovery, in order to get him to join with her. Ironhide switched directions and headed towards the med bay. If Ratchet so much as tried anything like that again, Ironhide was sure he'd come close to killing the medic. He'd just go nip that in the bud right now, as he'd heard Will Lennox say.

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Suddenly, their bond was wide open as Chromia sent Ironhide a panicked warning. Then, just as abruptly as she was there, she was closed to him again...

Ironhide gasped in alarm. He knew that feeling... Now he knew, without a doubt, where Chromia was. Ratchet had already gotten to her.

"Fragging Ratchet!" Ironhide cursed under his breath as he broke into a run towards the med bay in a panic.

The memory of how horrible Chromia being in terminal lock felt pervaded every byte of his being. Everything surrounding that moment was so vivid, so impressed upon him, that there would be no way he could forget it, which had been exactly Ratchet's point...

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_Ironhide approached the next Decepticon stronghold with the same caution he always had while infiltrating a Con city. He would enter this city the same way he had entered the others, through the trash chutes. Very few paid much attention to the trash and scrap yards. Once inside the city, he'd ambush a few unlucky Cons, conduct interrogations, and then kill those that were involved with Floatilla, including the ones he interrogated, whether they were involved or not. He'd be in and out before anyone knew what hit them. _

_They invariably knew he was coming, just not when and where. Thus far, no one had been able to conduct a successful ambush on him, but it wasn't for their lack of trying. They just didn't know when he'd strike next and certainly not where; they only knew where he'd already been. They tried to figure out if there was some sort of pattern he was following, but they never could figure it out. His strikes were varied and erratic, sometimes close together, sometimes far apart, but they couldn't make heads or tales of his plan..._

_Truth was, Ironhide didn't really have a plan. He had a goal, to inflict as much pain as possible on the Decepticons, but he had no real plan in which to carry out his goal. He just attacked whenever and whereever he felt like it. His attack plan didn't have to make sense to inflict pain. He didn't need a plan. The damage he caused was extensive, his goal, his vengeance, fulfilled. _

_Ironhide might not have had a plan and he was certainly driven by rage and vengeance, but he hadn't lost sight of the cause, even if he was losing sight of himself and his sparkmate. He was still an Autobot through and through. He found out some things along the path of his vengeance that would benefit his fellow Autobots. He recorded what he found, but he had no plan on what to do with his findings. He wasn't always sure why he was doing it, but it felt like further justification for his vengeance, even though his own justifications of having lost his sparkling were enough for him._

_The higher ups of the Con army were taking notice and Ironhide took grim satisfaction with the knowledge that Megatron regretted underestimating him. _

_Ironhide's bonded wasn't with him, he was but one lone mech, yet he still caused more damage than most even thought possible, without the bolstered strength of his bonded by his side. They all knew the Ironhide/Chromia combination was impossible to defeat. Few knew that Ironhide alone was just as impossible. They were finding out, and Megatron was wishing more and more that he'd just finished the job himself._

_Ironhide found out Megatron's sentiments when he tapped one of the bots he interrogated at Polyhex. Tapping wasn't usually something he resorted to in the past, but he had no scruples against doing it when he couldn't get the information he needed any other way. It was some mech who had access to higher Decepticon command, but Ironhide didn't know the Con's name. He never recorded their names. They didn't even deserve to be honored with such a distinction. They remained as nameless and faceless as they meant to him, which was absolutely nothing._

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_Megatron had known that Chromia must have survived. Ironhide would not have been able to keep up his attacks if she were dead, even if it were to be several orns or more before he would finally succumb to death himself._

_Megatron had been so sure that he'd killed the mate, Chromia, that he didn't even bother with the other one. He was so sure Chromia was dead, that he didn't bother to check. _

_Now things were more difficult. Ironhide showed up and disappeared whenever he pleased, ridding Megatron of his soldiers like a plague. No one had even seen the mate, Chromia, but Megatron was sure she hadn't recovered from the injuries he inflicted upon her. _

_There was another bonded out there causing him problems that he should have killed as well: Nightfire. However, with that one, there was no doubt that he killed the mate. He knew she would follow, so didn't bother with her. He just hadn't taken into account what kind of damage she could cause while waiting for death. _

_He was paying for both mistakes the hard way. He should have crushed Chromia's spark the same way he had with Deluge. He could have easily killed both Ironhide and Nightfire during their shock. That would have been the only hundred percent assured way that they couldn't cause him any more problems. He was living with the regret that he hadn't made sure they were all dead before leaving Floatilla._

_Nightfire had become another burr to poke him whenever he invaded Elita One's mind. Nightfire had only been in the link one time, but Elita held onto it like a weapon, jabbing Megatron with it whenever she got the chance. _

_He suspected he knew what capacity Nightfire was functioning for the Autobots, as a medic, but he just didn't know where...Medical facilities were hidden in both factions to protect and preserve the injured. He was getting close to finding it, though. He had ways available to him....Delicious ways...Elita was resisting his advances like she always did, but it was only a matter of time. He'd get what he wanted. He always got what he wanted..._

_Elita's communication with her bonded wasn't getting in the way near as much as it had been. He attributed that to Jetfire's success in blocking that communication. Despite the losses and problems Ironhide and Nightfire caused him, he was having far more victories. However, somehow sending Elita to Jetfire was strengthening her resolve. Perhaps he should have sent her to Shockwave. He had allowed Jetfire to be the one because Jetfire volunteered. He thought that was odd, but he allowed it. However, it seemed that Jetfire's damnable sensibilities were getting in the way._

_Once Megatron had the location of the med bay, though, he was sure to find both Nightfire and Chromia in the same place. Next time, he'd make sure it was done right. It was clear that even though Deluge was dead, Nightfire was still able to function. Once that location was known to him, he would make sure they were __**all**__ dead. _

_There was a reward out for Ironhide, dead or alive. A scout had been tracking him since Polyhex, which was the last place Ironhide attacked. Even if someone was successful in killing him, there would be no mistakes about the deaths of Chromia and Nightfire. It was clear that they had to be killed too, even after their mates were dead._

_Trypticon informed Megatron as soon as Ironhide was detected outside the city perimeter. Megatron immediately ordered some Cons to go out and intercept him. Trypticon informed him that the scout was still tracking Ironhide as well, but that hardly mattered now, not with Ironhide effectively walking into a trap. Megatron would join his troops and take care of Ironhide himself, this time making sure the job was done. _

_However, Megatron didn't know it, yet, but he'd be interrupted from his plan to be rid of Ironhide once and for all..._

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_As Ironhide crossed the scrap yards of Trypticon, he came across two Decepticons. He jumped behind a pile of metal to be out of sight, rolling out his cannons, waiting for the attack. _

_The attack never came. _

_He was beginning to think that, perhaps, they didn't see him. Ironhide peeked out from his hiding place to see if they were still there; they were. They looked like they were lying low, waiting for something. _

_After a few more moments, it was clear that they hadn't seen him after all. He decided to sneak around them from behind to get the drop on them before they knew what hit them..._

_As Ironhide came around them from behind, he stopped dead in his tracks. Dropping his arms down to his sides as he subspaced his cannons, he stood up, staring at them as he walked in front of them. His spark sank at the horror before him._

_They were two bonded Decepticons. They had been executed. They had probably been the only bonded Decepticons in the city, hiding it for as long as they could. _

_Ironhide just stared at them, several emotions taking hold that twisted his spark. He still hated them because they were Cons, but the single act that they would be frozen in forever gripped him... They were holding hands._

_The part of Ironhide that was now buried deep within his being, but still existing, felt sad for them. They were all still Cybertronians. If there was anything good about a Decepticon, it was eradicated now, reduced to nothing but the scrap the majority of the Decepticons thought it was. This is what bonded Cybertronians in the Decepticon faction had to look forward to; to be unceremoniaously killed and thrown out with the rest of the garbage._

_Ironhide reached out to Chromia. He just had to feel her, to know she was there. She was still keeping him out about her true condition, but she was restless about something else he couldn't get a sense of. Even so, the minimal contact was comforting._

_As Ironhide stared at the clasping hands, he strangely thought of Nightfire. This was her fate. Only monsters would turn on their own kind, leaving the ones they turned on to fend for themselves. As much as he despised her Decepticon ideals, he was forced to see her as a Cybertronian, as someone not much unlike himself. Nightfire was mourning a loved one. He was mourning a loved one. They were suffering the same way, just a different situation for each of them. Ironhide felt a tiny bit of pity for her. _

_"Appropriate to find you here," a sneering voice sounded from behind him._

_The voice interrupted Ironhide's thoughts and he cursed himself for lingering there too long, but he did not let on that he was utterly surprised at getting caught._

_"You belong here with them..." a Decepticon smaller than Ironhide was saying as Ironhide turned around, "...you bonded piece of scrap." _

_Ironhide saw that the mech was a scout. The scout kept talking, "There's a reward out for you. Megatron wants you dead or alive." _

_The Con scout had, no doubt, contacted his comrades, but he was obviously too eager to collect the reward for himself rather than wait for them._

_"So I've heard," Ironhide finally spoke. This scout was going to be easy to take down, but Ironhide knew not to let his guard down, nonetheless._

_"Where's that pretty little sparkmate of yours?" the scout just didn't know when to shut up. "I'd love to make her acquaintance once you're out of the way."_

_Growling in disgust, Ironhide didn't hesitate to roll out his right cannon and shoot. The shot went right through the scout, the mech's image wavering as the energy was dispersed briefly, only to land its mark in a heap of scrap metal behind him. The scout was making use of a hologram. No wonder he was so confident..._

_"A little trigger happy, aren't we?" the scout taunted._

_Ironhide knew how holograms worked. The real, solid, scout couldn't have been that far away. Ironhide surveyed the area, taking note of every piece of scrap that could be large enough to hide a mech that size. Without hesitation, he began shooting everything that he had just scanned. _

_The scout was obviously tracking Ironhide's progress as he blew up each and every single pile of scrap within visual range. The mech was forced to reveal himself, running out from underneath the next pile Ironhide took aim at._

_Ironhide ran straight at him, grabbing the scout up by his arm, twisting it around until he had the mech bowing forward from the sudden pain in his hand. The Con's CPU port was easily accessible from this position and Ironhide wordlessly went for it. The mech struggled harder as he realized Ironhide's intentions, but it was all for nothing._

_"You're nothing!" the Decepticon yelled helplessly as the connection was made._

_Ironhide wasted no time in plundering the mech's mind, recording what was useful, ignoring everything else. Ironhide paused as one important piece of information presented itself. Elita One was at Trypticon... He didn't question how the scout knew this. That was not important. The scout tried to push him out as Ironhide dug deeper along a line of code revealing something about the city of Trypticon itself...and then he had it. Ironhide was visibly startled when he found out that Trypticon was actually a living mech...The scout was able to push him out then._

_"Megatron will purge Cybertron of your weakness!" he spat venomously, still trapped in Ironhide's grip, but madder than ever._

_The mech cried out when Ironhide immediately crushed his hand. The scout may have been angry, but nothing could top the absolute loathing Ironhide was feeling. _

_"Do you think that this is weak?!" Ironhide yelled._

_Ironhide then pulled the entire arm out of its socket. The Con scout screamed, falling to the ground as Ironhide had been holding him up by his arm, which was now completely detached from his body. He writhed on the ground, holding his shoulder in pain, energon seeping between his fingers from the socket._

_Suddenly Ironhide's bond with Chromia was wide open. Then it hit Ironhide like an astral collision. He felt that same restlessness he'd felt from Chromia earlier...There was a strong sense of weakness...Then he felt her intense panic swirling around an immense fear. All of it was suddenly surrounded by disbelief so deep that he was consumed by it. Then, Ironhide's spark erupted in panic, fear, and disbelief of its own as Chromia's presence was suddenly erased from their bond. _

_Ironhide gasped in shock and startlement, bringing his hand up to grasp his chassis where his spark lay beneath. Chromia was..._

_He couldn't bring himself to think it. It wasn't possible... Chromia couldn't die... She wouldn't..._

_Ironhide frantically reached out for her and then gasped again, a startled yelp escaping his vocalizer as he was met with nothing but an emptiness so vast that it was mind-numbingly painful. He wasn't feeling the cutting pain he had felt when Sunshadow was so brutally taken from them, but the void was far greater than the void that Sunshadow left behind._

_Ironhide was no longer whole. An entire half of him was completely missing. Chromia was just...gone..._

_"Something wrong with your bonded?" the Decepticon scout taunted through gritted dental plates. "I told you it was a weakness. Your kind won't last much longer."_

_Ironhide grabbed the Con by his leg and pulled him to him. He punched him in the face before placing his cannon directly to the side of the mech's head. He didn't even bother to pull the trigger..._

_Chromia had been deathly afraid. She died alone and afraid._

_...Crying out in anguish, Ironhide applied enough downward force to crush the mech's cranial unit with the end of his cannon. The Decepticon's head collapsed with a sickening pop followed by a loud crunch._

_Ironhide didn't have any time to think more on Chromia's death when, suddenly, he was tackled from behind. He felt a blade slip in at his elbow and pain exploded up and down his arm as the knife cut through wiring and energon lines, effectively disabling his right cannon and arm entirely._

_Ironhide knew the scout had, no doubt, already reported him. He also figured the sentient city already knew he was there before the fight with the scout began._

_Roaring more out of anger with himself for dropping his guard than from the pain, he reached around with his good arm and grabbed the new attacker by the throat. By some strange, sick sort of luck, this particular mech's vents happened to be on the sides of his neck. Ironhide easily crushed them with a squeeze of his hand around the mech's throat. _

_Ironhide released him and let him fall back, the mech tearing at the vents to try and pry them back open. He would die from overheating soon enough. As the frame completely overheated, the circuits in his CPU would start to melt, corrupting every memory chip he had until there was no longer a CPU to function. The heat would overwhelm his spark until it finally extinguished from trauma. It was a horrible way to die, but Ironhide harbored no pity, nor did he foster any remorse. They could all burn in Pit for all he cared._

_He had little time to think about it before he found himself surrounded...The Decepticons circled around him, predators sizing up their prey. They could see the energon dripping from his injured arm and Ironhide noticed their optics looking._

_"Come on, you fraggers," he goaded. "Finish it!"_

_His spark screaming in agony, Ironhide wanted nothing more than to give up, to stand there and just let them kill him as they saw fit. However, he wasn't about to give them that satisfaction. If he was going to die here, he was going to go down fighting. Chromia wouldn't have wanted it any other way; he wouldn't allow it to be any other way. Besides, that's what they wanted, and he was Pit-bent on not allowing any Con what he/she wanted, even if it were to ease his own suffering._

_Ironhide charged the nearest Decepticon. He fully tackled the mech, knocking him down before the Con even realized what was happening. Ironhide was anything if unpredictable. _

_The Con fought him, but it wasn't enough. Before Ironhide rolled out the cannon from his good arm and shot the mech in the chest at point blank range, the percussion of it deafening him, he already had his next target. There was no way for them to know what he'd do next, who he'd target next, but he was already calculating it before his current Con victim could seize his last intake of cool air._

_As Ironhide's hearing tried to recalibrate, everything seemed to move in slow motion with no sound. The Cons were running every which way. Some were coming at him, some were taking cover, while others were backing off to get a better shot at him from a little more distance. That was exactly what Ironhide wanted._

_The air suddenly erupted in a barrage of plasma fire as each of them vied to be the one to take him down. They knew not to underestimate him, even with his injury. The Autobot was even harder to take down when he was injured and angry, so filling the air with plasma fire was the best defense they knew. _

_Even with his injury, Ironhide exploded from the ground, already shooting and hitting his target as he expertly somersaulted through the plasma fire. _

_Ironhide had proximal sensors for every piece of weaponry known to Cybertron. He even had them calibrated to recognize firepower from any modified or homemade weapon he came across. He wasn't the Autobot Weapons Specialist for nothing. He knew every single piece of weaponry inside and out. Before the Cons even started firing, he had already scanned and logged everything this group had in their arsenal. Unless one of them got him at close range, or had a modified weapon he wasn't familiar with, he knew how to avoid getting hit by any of them._

_He could easily avoid getting hit at close range by keeping them at bay, and anyone close enough he usually charged full on, taking them by surprise before they could bring their weapons to bear on him, which was exactly what he did as soon as they had had him surrounded, of course._

_It was the modified, and even homemade, stuff he had to worry about. If there was something new somewhere that someone had made, or a new modification to an old weapon, he wouldn't know it until he got a chance to study it first hand. He had a lot of these sorts of weapons logged, but the Cons were nothing but resourceful. They were always coming up with new stuff._

_It was a Decepticon with a weapon like this that got him. Ironhide didn't know it was coming until it was too late, his right ankle erupting into a blaze of pain, his vocalizer emitting a screech of anger. Unable to stop his forward momentum, he came down on the injured ankle and it buckled beneath him, sending him flying to the ground._

_"I got 'im!" someone was yelling excitedly. "See? I told you idiots! You have to have something he doesn't recognize!"_

_The first mistake everyone always made regarding injuring Ironhide was that they always thought they'd disabled him, so the first thing they did was stop shooting, which was exactly what this group did. The next mistake was that someone usually approached him, which was exactly the mistake the one that shot him had done._

_Ironhide was merely injured. He was far from being unable to inflict more damage on his opponents; he was far from being disabled. Everyone that made those mistakes learned from them, but no one usually lived to pass on that information to their fellow Decepticons._

_As soon as the mech was close enough to nudge Ironhide with his precious modified weapon, Ironhide's hand shot out and grabbed the Con's ankle, pulling it out from under him. The mech fell to the ground next to Ironhide with a startled yelp. Ironhide immediately grabbed the weapon as it fell with its wielder._

_"Nice piece of work you got here," Ironhide growled._

_He then aimed it at the mech's ankle and pulled the trigger. The mech cried out in pain._

_"Hurts, don't it?" Ironhide taunted._

_The air erupted in firepower again as everyone resumed shooting at him, but nothing found its mark. Ironhide used their fallen comrade as a shield as he climbed to his feet again. The Con screamed as he took shot after shot, begging for the others to stop shooting._

_Ironhide knew he wasn't going to be able to keep up this pace. He idly wondered why he was trying. He was outnumbered and injured in several places. It was only a matter of time... He had nothing to live for now, anyway. He had lost both his sparkling and his sparkmate. Not giving the Cons what they wanted was a stubborn sentiment that hardly had any meaning anymore. He should just go ahead and let them kill him and be done with it. He had fought well. Chromia would have been proud. It was time to go ahead and join her. Lost and broken, Ironhide completely and utterly gave up._

_As Ironhide dropped his dying Con shield, time seemed to slow down again. Everyone stopped firing all at once. Ironhide growled, the noise sounding slow and sluggish in his audios, frustrated that their confusion and disbelief would cause them to stop and stare rather than to keep firing. He slowly shuttered and unshuttered his optics as he looked at each of them in turn. Some of them looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what his next move was going to be...He wasn't firing at any of them; he hadn't even raised his working cannon since he stood up._

_One lone Con caught on as he and Ironhide made optic contact. Ironhide's optics never left his as the Con slowly raised his weapon and took aim. Ironhide then shuttered his optics, holding out his good arm, presenting his chest to the mech as if to say, "Make it count."_

_Ironhide's expression was that of contentment, his spark rejoicing that he was about to be joining his sparkmate in death. Maybe their sparkling would be there too. The thought of being with Sunshadow again actually made him smile._

_Ironhide heard the explosion of the plasma bullet leaving the barrel..._

_Then, suddenly, the ground shook with explosions from a distance, knocking all of them off their feet, the bullet completely missing Ironhide as he fell to the ground._

_"Trypticon is under attack!" someone yelled and the Decepticons jumped up, dispersing in chaos. _

_In the mass confusion, Ironhide seemed to have been forgotten._

_The mech that fired thought he had got him. He watched the black mech go down, but he didn't make sure he was dead. Assuming Ironhide was dead was yet another mistake that Cons seemed to keep making about him._

_Ironhide found himself alone as more explosions rocked the ground, the Cons running towards the attackers, sufficiently distracted from thoughts of reward for killing the Autobot Weapons Specialist and proving it._

_"Come back and finish it, you slaggers!" Ironhide yelled, the explosions drowning out his voice. He slammed his fist down on the ground in frustration. "Fragging Pit," he cursed to himself._

_Ironhide lay there in shock. All he could think about was that Chromia was dead. His spark kept feeling the residuals of her intense panic, her spark-twisting fear. The emptiness he was feeling was so vast, the hollowness so deep, that the pain of it completely drowned out any pain he should have been feeling from his injured arm and ankle._

_He just knew that he had killed her, that it was his fault. He knew she hadn't been doing well. Ratchet flat out told him as much. She tried to hide it from him, but he knew anyway and still did nothing, preferring to act ignorant and take his frustrations out on the Cons. He was not there for her. He was not there to comfort her. The anguish was too much to bear..._

_Why didn't he just stay with her until she was well enough to be on her own? How could he neglect the one thing that meant more to him than anything in the universe? As he often did with Sunshadow's death, he thought of all the 'what-ifs.' But, this time, the blame fell squarely on him. As difficult as it was to admit, Ratchet was right. There was nothing Ironhide could have done for Sunshadow, but there was everything he could have done for Chromia. _

_He still felt like he failed Sunshadow, but he really did fail Chromia. In not being able to cope with Sunshadow's death, he completely neglected her. She didn't seem to mind. In fact, she didn't want him to know and was overjoyed to find out what he had been doing; exacting revenge. But, that was no excuse. He should have stayed. He should have insisted even when she protested. Nothing had changed the fact that their joinings had become a nightmare, but they could have figured out a way...There had to have been a way. They could have tried to figure out a way. They didn't even try..._

_Ironhide decided he wanted to move to another spot. It was only a matter of time before the Cons remembered he was there and came back to finish the job. As much as Ironhide would welcome death, as much as he wanted them to kill him, he just decided he didn't want the hassle. He'd rather go somewhere and die as alone and empty as his spark felt. He didn't deserve anything better. The best thing he could hope for now was just to give up and surrender to death. Nothing seemed important anymore. He didn't matter, friendships didn't matter, the Autobot cause didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Even knowing the location of Elita One no longer seemed important. It wouldn't be up to him to deliver that information. Like everything else that had mattered in his life, he let it go. It didn't matter._

_As Ironhide slowly stood up and drug himself away, his spark crying out with every movement, he came back across the executed bonded pair. He stood, just staring at them, as he had done before. No matter what, he refused to see the sparkmate bond as a weakness. He would not dishonor Chromia's memory by giving in to that sentiment. Yet, she had felt so weak...His spark twisting in guilt, he buried his face in his good hand, his injured arm hanging limply at his side, energon slowly dripping to the ground. _

_Even with the noise of explosions in the distance, Ironhide could hear the drops of his energon hitting the ground. He listened to them, all other noises becoming muted as he concentrated on the drops. He contemplated opening the cut energon line even further, allowing his energon to spill out faster, until there was little left to sustain him, and he could die right here next to this unfortunate couple. _

_For some reason, that was a comforting thought. The last thing he would ever see in this world could be their hands, holding each other in a love that was swiftly becoming a death sentence. His dying image would be the imagining that he, himself, was holding Chromia's hand..._

_Ironhide blinked, shuttering and unshuttering his optics as a new resolve began to take shape. The sparkmates he was looking at; they were together despite their death. There was no reason Ironhide couldn't be next to his sparkmate as well. Ironhide felt morbidly jealous that they had died together, but he felt a little more lucky than Nightfire, at least. He wasn't sure where Nightfire's sparkmate was. He was probably still on Floatilla with the rest of the dead there. The city had been declared a tomb. He was somewhat surprised that he had thought about Nightfire again, but he knew where Chromia was and, unlike Nightfire's mate, Chromia's body would be easily accessible for viewing. Ironhide knew Ratchet would properly take care of Chromia's body. She would be there for Ironhide to decide what he wanted._

_The distance back to Iacon was vast, the journey long and difficult with his injuries...but, the thought of laying by Chromia's side, looking upon her face one last time, encouraged him. And, once he got to her, he would never let go of her hand again._

_That's what Ironhide wanted._

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AN: *collapses* That chapter was d.i.f.f.i.c.u.l.t. to write. Whew!


	40. Requiem

**posted April 4, 2009 **

**AUTHOR'S NOTES (you can skip down to the clearly marked start of the chapter)**:

[EDIT on May 11, 2009: Review responses have been moved to 'REVIEW RESPONSES for ch. 39' on my biopage. I cannot thank you all enough!]

Thanks to the wonderful reviewers of chapter 39: **Flameshield, LadyJet2, Miss Lazy Leggy, jadedsnowtiger, plenoptic, flamingmarsh, xCubicZirconia, Bluebird Soaring, CuteKittten, Katanagirl16, theshadowcat, Fae Child19, Kb, Lecidre, TransFlashbacks, soulfulbee, I play wid fir3, blood-tempest, **and** Xerios**.

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Freaking sweet!

**Total visiting countries** during the month of **March: **USA, Canada, Germany, UK, Norway, Australia, Mexico, Finland, Taiwan, South Korea, Philippines, Faroe Islands, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Singapore, South Africa, Malaysia, Colombia, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Chile, China, Spain, Argentina, and Denmark. This is too cool!

**grlwdgrntrk **is back from basic training! CONGRATULATIONS! *claps hands* I wish you luck in your military career.

**Disclaimer: **See ch. 37

Huge thanks goes to **Karategal, Lady Tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggpoo **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **Lady Tecuma. **The characters are different in each of our stories, but the name is hers.

**Xerios** drew another beautiful picture of Sunshadow. You can check out the link on my biopage. Thank you so much, **Xerios**!

Thank you all for your patience and understanding for having to wait another week for this update when I lost the second part of the chapter to the 'blue screen of death' last weekend. It took me a week to rewrite it, but here it is finally *smile*

This entire chapter is a flashback following the last chapter. _Italics _are a flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 40

Requiem

by Litahatchee

_Nightfire could hear crashing sounds and glass shattering. It was coming from the morgue and storage area. Alarmed that Ratchet might have finally lost it, she rushed in to find another mech instead. He had torn the entire room apart. It was hardly recognizable anymore, but the mech that was responsible was easily recognized. They both froze, neither of them expecting to see the other, and both of them thinking that they were looking at the last bot they'd rather be faced with._

_Ironhide was actually the first to say anything. "Where are they?!" he demanded, pulling down a shelf full of tools, which clattered noisily to the floor, several of them sliding away with a screech._

_Waiting for the sound to quit ringing in her audios, Nightfire started to answer him, knowing he wouldn't be there for anything other than his sparkmate and his sparkling. His sparkmate wasn't there, but he didn't know that yet, so she decided to tell him where his sparkling was._

_"Sunsh..." she started._

_"Do NOT say his name!" Ironhide's booming voice bounced off the walls, successfully interrupting her, her audios gaining a new high-pitched ringing._

_For a moment, it looked like he might attack her. Instead, he turned, ripping apart everything in his search as he grew more and more frustrated that he couldn't find what he was looking for. He seemed to have been having some difficulty moving around, but he didn't seem to have been having any difficulty in tearing up the place._

_Ironhide found himself reaching out to his sparkling, only to be hit with agony from the dead bond, which made him even more maddened, fueling his frenzied search as he visibly winced in pain._

_"Number seven, left side," Nightfire said quickly, noticing his grimace and sure that she knew why. However, she wasn't sure if she should feel sorry for the black mech or fear the giant maniac._

_Ironhide suddenly stopped his rampage. He walked to the left side of the room and Nightfire noticed that his movements seemed to be more labored when he tried to walk. As he searched for drawer number seven he paused..._

_There it was..._

_Number seven..._

_That was what it all came down to. One of the most important beings in his life, reduced to a single-digit number. Ironhide wondered which drawer Chromia was in and figured that Nightfire knew, but he wanted to get his sparkling first._

_Ironhide hesitated before gently, reverently, pushing the button that would open the drawer, as if the entire world would shatter if he put too much pressure on it. As he watched the drawer open, revealing his most precious creation that now lay lifeless within, Ironhide nearly collapsed. It wasn't entirely the sight of his sparkling that left him feeling completely helpless, but the sight of what Sunshadow was holding. He didn't know how it got there, but in his CPU he could practically hear Sunshadow's giggly voice as he vroomed his way across the floor with his favorite toy. It was to be no more. Sunshadow would never play with it again, but there it was, with him nonetheless._

_Trembling, Ironhide reached down and picked up Sunshadow's Little Dide. He turned it around in his hands, his chest tightening in sorrow. A choking noise escaped him before he laboriously dragged air into his vents. He then reached into the drawer to lift Sunshadow._

_Nightfire watched in silent sadness, but suddenly became concerned by Ironhide's obvious movement to lift the sparkling, "What are you doing? Where are you taking him?"_

_"He belongs with her," Ironhide found himself answering softly. They would lay in rest together, as a family, as they were meant to be always. It would be their requiem._

_It was too much for Nightfire. This was not something either she or Ratchet anticipated. If Ratchet witnessed this reaction from Ironhide, she was sure he would have told Ironhide the truth by now._

_"Chromia's not..." Nightfire barely got the words out._

_Ironhide let go of his sparkling, allowing him to lay gently back into the drawer. He did not want this Decepticon dishonoring those most precious to him by uttering their designations. Growling menacingly, he attacked._

_Nightfire hardly knew what hit her as he lashed out at her with a forceful punch to her face, shouting, "Do not say her name!"_

_A few astroseconds later, Nightfire could hear his furious heaving as he cycled air in and out of his vents to cool his heated systems. She could only hear with her right audio. Her left one wasn't functioning. She realized that she had shuttered her optics. She opened them, slowly, painfully._

_Ironhide was directly in front of her, leaning against his left fist where he threw it into the wall to the left side of her face. He hadn't even touched her, though she knew that had he landed that punch into her face, she would no longer have a functioning CPU. She felt like she had been punched anyway, the shear force of it having sent a percussion wave of air and sound into her left audio, leaving her painfully dazed._

_Ironhide merely glared at her with his disconcertingly intense optics. One was completely clouded over and she realized that it must have been completely blinded. Loathing and barely contained hatred practically radiated from him. He despised her, that much she could easily tell, but something had changed._

_Suddenly, the heaving sound stopped as he seemed to freeze in place. He glanced at his fist, his optics widening in horror as he removed it from the now dented wall, bringing it in front of him. He slowly opened his fingers, and watched as several pieces of the toy he had picked up from Sunshadow's hand fell to the floor. At first, Nightfire could perceive no other emotion showing on his face. Then, he gasped in sorrow. He just stood there, staring at the pieces, sorrow, pain and regret twisting his features as the rest of the remnants of the shattered toy fell from his open palm._

_His sorrow-filled optics tracked from the pieces on the floor back to Nightfire, stopping at the bond mark on her chasses._

_He stared at the mark, thinking about those Decepticon sparkmates in the scrap yards of Trypticon. He wasn't sure how he felt about her not having to end up in a place like that, but he felt that her fate was his fate now. He didn't think that he could last as long as she had. He didn't want to find a reason to continue until his spark eventually just couldn't remain lit any longer._

_Disconcerted by his gaze, Nightfire covered her bond mark with her hand. The movement snapping him out of it, Ironhide raised his optics to hers before looking back down at the shattered remains of Little Dide. His optics no longer held that angered intensity. They were just empty and sad now. The broken toy represented just how broken he had become, how much he had lost, how much of his life had been shattered by one single, horrifying, blow. Nightfire understood. Her life had been torn apart as well. Maybe, just maybe, he was feeling a kinship with her that he hadn't recognized before._

_"She's not dead," Nightfire whispered, her voice sounding as small as she felt._

_She knew that putting Chromia in terminal lock would completely shut down the bond, making Ironhide believe his sparkmate had died. That was partly Ratchet's point. He wanted Ironhide to understand the seriousness of Chromia's condition and since the mech wasn't listening to anything else, this was the most poignant way to get his attention. Nightfire was very concerned, because a lot of mates would just give up. Ratchet obviously knew Ironhide better than she did, if his presence here now was any indication._

_Ironhide's optics shot back up to hers, full of confusion, but a startled hope at her words. Nightfire reached out to touch his shoulder and he jerked away as if he'd been stung by acid, though she doubted mere acid could harm that armor. Maybe he didn't feel a kinship after all, especially if he didn't even want her touching him. However, she did know that he had spared her. Throwing that punch into the wall and not into her face had been intentional. He missed on purpose._

_"Ch..." Nightfire stopped herself from saying the name and then started over, repeating, "She's not dead."_

_Ironhide blinked, the words sinking in, but his spark still telling him otherwise when he reached out to her. He clutched at his chest, shaking his head in confusion._

_"She's in terminal lock," Nightfire explained. "All you need to do is merge with her."_

_Ironhide's optics widened and he tripped as he stepped back, regaining his balance only as he nearly fell into a nearby table, his left hand thrusting out to support himself on it. That's when Nightfire realized he was injured._

_"You're hurt," she gasped, stating the now obvious as she realized he wasn't even, nor had he been in his search, using his right arm at all._

_One of his ankles was so badly mangled that she wondered how he could even stand on his own power. This mech was operating on shear will, probably thinking he could find plenty of rest once he got back to the family that he believed to be all dead. She might have thought that he was deranged and her concern had initially only been for Chromia, but her spark finally went out to him. Him being injured was going to make bringing Chromia out of terminal lock harder for both of them. He was going to need more energy before he should even attempt the first merge, but Nightfire wasn't about to touch him. Even if she thought he wouldn't react negatively against her, she didn't have enough of her own energy to give out anyway._

_Nightfire found herself wishing that she had formed a link with Ratchet. Even as the CMO of Floatilla, she had never established a link with an Autobot. The thought of having a link with one made her tanks churn. It hadn't really become an issue to have to have one, even though it had been in debate at Floatilla, something she simply and easily avoided._

_However, if she and Ratchet had a link, she would be able to communicate with him directly through the link, just like every other Cybertronian that worked closely with another. She would be able to contact Ratchet immediately and inform him that Ironhide was hurt. Unfortunately, as it stood at that point, she wouldn't be able to tell Ratchet until she saw him and, just as unfortunately, he wasn't in the med bay at the moment. He wasn't going to be gone long, but it suddenly felt like it would be too long. If she had that link, she could call Ratchet and get him back to the med bay in no time at all. Perhaps she could endure establishing a link with an Autobot for an urgent need such as this._

_Maybe, just maybe, Ratchet already knew someone was there. She didn't know the full security of the med bay, as Ratchet didn't really trust her to know the extent of it, but she knew that little went on in the med bay that Ratchet didn't know about. In fact, he seemed to know everything that went on in the entire medical facility. He probably had motion sensors absolutely everywhere. She could only hope that he already knew someone had arrived there and was on his way back to see who it was and continue his damnable reign over that which he liked to claim as 'his med bay.'_

_"She wasn't in her recovery room when I first got here," Ironhide's voice cut into her thoughts. He had wanted to see her when he first got to the med bay, but she wasn't where he'd left her, so he assumed she would be in the morgue with Sunshadow._

_"Ratchet moved her to the residence hall," Nightfire said. "He means for you both to live in the med facility awhile..."_

_Ironhide ran out of the room so fast that it took an astrosecond for Nightfire to realize he was gone. He really was working on shear will and his will was second to none, she was coming to learn. His name meant something deeper than just having a tough outer shell._

_No longer in his presence, Nightfire sank down to her knees and broke into quiet sobs as her spark sorrowed, vocalizing her pain through her vocal processor in the form of soft, mournful, clicks. She rested her forehead into her hands on the floor. Ironhide would get back that which she would never get back..._

_She was distracted by something sharp jabbing her in her left knee and she went to swipe it away with her hand...and then paused. It was one of the pieces of the broken toy. She looked around her and found several other pieces and then looked back up at the still open number seven drawer. Slowly, she gathered the pieces all together..._

_-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Ironhide wasn't sure who put Chromia in terminal lock, but he suspected it was Ratchet. For some strange reason, he did not blame Nightfire. As Ironhide made his way to the residential area of the med facility, he didn't see or run into Ratchet. Ironhide would have liked nothing more than to bash the mech's head in, but he had more urgent matters to attend to first. He was relieved to find out that Chromia hadn't died, but he was nervous about terminal lock. He wasn't about to waste any time in hunting down Ratchet. He had given up, but now he had hope again. Fighting Ratchet was the last thing on his mind, though he probably wouldn't have hesitated to shoot the mech on sight; he just hadn't seen him yet. He didn't really care at the moment, but who knew what his reaction would be when faced with that option._

_A lot of time had passed since he felt Chromia's 'death,' that which he now knew was her being placed in terminal lock. The feelings of disbelief that he had gotten from her made complete sense to him now. He wasn't entirely relieved to know that was what it was, however. He knew enough about sparkmates being put in terminal lock that the other mate needed to bring the locked one out of it fairly quickly. He just hoped he wasn't too late. If he was, Ratchet would be the first mech he would take it out on, and it wouldn't be a pretty outcome._

_There weren't many residential suites in the med facility and as far as Ironhide knew, only Ratchet and First Aid truly lived there. He easily recognized their domiciles as he looked in each one. A couple others were empty. He finally came to stop in front of the door of a room that was somewhat removed from the others, but still near to Ratchet's. Ironhide entered the residence and simply froze when he came to the berthroom._

_Chromia lay in the berth as if nothing at all had transpired. She didn't look entirely peaceful, but she looked at rest, like she was just napping. It didn't seem like anything was shut down at all. Ironhide kept thinking she might open her optics to look at him when her spark recognized that he was there._

_When he could finally get himself to move, he was at her side in an instant. The first thing he did was grab her hand. He pressed it to his mouthplates, then his cheekplates, and finally to his forehead._

_Somewhat deceived by her restful-looking state, he tried to nudge her through their bond in the hopes that he could simply wake her. He was met with nothing. It was a nothing so empty that if his optics weren't showing him that she was right there, he'd believe that she wasn't. If it weren't for the telltale scarring that he recognized, as he knew each and every mark, scarring or otherwise, that she had on her frame, he'd think that this wasn't Chromia at all. Terminal lock had to be the worst medical alternative to treating sparkmates in existence that he could think of. It was even worse than Ratchet physically making them join._

_All Ironhide could think clearly about was how much he wanted her back with him, to be able to feel her presence in his spark again. Never again would he leave her side. If he could bring her out of this, even just letting her out of his sight was going to be difficult. Something as drastic or unlikely as the AllSpark itself being lost to the far reaches of space would have to happen before he even so much as thought of leaving her side again._

_Seeing her there, being by her side again, Ironhide was certain that he wanted to live. He wanted to have and enjoy Chromia in this life. He wasn't ready for the next life and neither was she, even if death would be a relief from their problems and suffering, even if it meant that they would be reunited with Sunshadow. At that moment, it just seemed like there was something more for them to live for. They would just have to figure out a way to deal with Sunshadow's death in this life, however long it took._

_Ironhide wasn't entirely sure how to bring Chromia out of terminal lock, but Nightfire had said that all he needed to do was merge with her. Without hesitating another moment, Ironhide opened her chassis._

_He could see immediately that Chromia's spark was not extinguished. It was dull and dark, but it was still burning. It seemed to be like it was in a dormant state. He supposed that was what terminal lock was for a bot, a dormant state until something more could be done._

_Ironhide couldn't miss the glaring scar below her spark casing. He already knew that this was Chromia, even though he couldn't feel her through his spark. It wasn't just some other femme with the same frame type. It was rare to find another femme with her frame type, anyway, but not entirely impossible. At any rate, if he hadn't recognized her with any other visual indicator, this particular puncturing scar was a sure identifier that this was, with certainty, Chromia._

_The scar no longer scared him. In fact, it took on a whole new meaning for him as he accepted that it was there. He placed his hand over it and shuttered his optics. He wished beyond wishing that he could have prevented everything that happened to her at Floatilla. But, now, he just wanted her to live._

_Opening his chassis, Ironhide pulled her flush to his chest with his working arm. Their sparks touched..._

_... and nothing happened._

_He hugged her tighter, until he thought his spark might burst from the pressure. It wasn't merging with hers..._

_Ironhide's spark filled with dread. This wasn't going to work. Maybe he was too late...If only he had known that she had been placed in terminal lock to begin with. Not only that, but Nightfire was concerned over his injuries. Maybe he was too exhausted to bring Chromia out of it. What if he didn't have enough energy?_

_"Chromia...please..." Ironhide whispered in her audio, his spark breaking with his plea, his voice cracking in worry and fear._

_Ironhide was not considered a pious mech, and the only time he recognized Primus was by using his name as an expletive. However, like many beings suffering and desperate, Ironhide resorted to supplication. _

_A few moments passed...too many moments. Ironhide was forced to relive his panic of losing her again. He had been given a brief hope, only to have it stripped from him. He tried repositioning her and even connected to her CPU to transfer as much of his energy as he dared without putting himself in stasis._

_Ironhide felt a sudden draw on his systems and he gasped at the intensity of it as Chromia's spark began pulling him in, taking what was needed. Then, finally, he felt her. Overcome with relief and emotion, Ironhide began crying in the way that Cybertronians could, through his spark. Her spark began soothing his outpouring of emotion as it perceived his trials and worries along with his immense relief._

_Clicking softly as his effusion of relief became vocalized, his mind on nothing but Chromia, Ironhide gave himself completely to the meld._


	41. Finger Counting

**posted April 25, 2009**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES (you can skip down to the clearly marked start of the chapter)**:

[EDIT on May 11, 2009: Review responses have been moved to 'REVIEW RESPONSES for ch. 40' on my biopage. I cannot thank you all enough!]

Thanks to the awesome reviewers of chapter 40: **flamingmarsh, Violetlight, Katanagirl16, blood-tempest, Flameshield, Fire Redhead, CuteKittten, Bluebird Soaring, theshadowcat, Blume, i-love-me-some-leggypoo, TransFlashbacks, Lecidre, **and **vanillathunder215.**

Thanks for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: Bunnylass, Donna Noble, Shizuka Taiyou, vanillathunder215**

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Thank you thank you thank you!

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma. **The characters are different in each of our stories, but the name is hers.

This entire chapter is a flashback following the last chapter. _Italics _are a flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 41

Finger Counting

by Litahatchee

_"How many fingers am I holding up?"_

_Ironhide heard the voice. He thought he recognized it, but something more important had his full attention..._

_He could feel...__**her**__._

_He could hear her vents._

_He could feel her spark._

_Her hand rested in his own, warm and alive._

_He looked towards their hands, but couldn't focus his optics on them. He was not alarmed, nor did he care. She was alive and he reveled in their living bond. Knowing that he was holding her hand was enough. He didn't need to be able to see it. If it came down to it, he didn't need to be able to see ever again._

_He could feel each of her fingers, nestled snugly in his palm. They were so slender, so warm, so beautiful as he imagined her hand as a part of his forever. He listened to her vents, to every whir and hum of her systems as he concentrated on her fingers. He thought of each one, squeezing her hand as he counted them, just as the voice suggested..._

_One..._

_Two..._

_Three..._

_Four..._

_Five..._

_Five fingers..._

_Five fingers that could reign death over their enemies mercilessly..._

_Five fingers that could tenderly embrace fragile life..._

_Five fingers that could touch him, that could open him to pleasures that he could scarcely have imagined before he was bonded to the being they belonged to..._

_Ironhide could read everything that was Chromia through her hand. He could feel her strengths and her affections through just the simple act of holding it. The five fingers that rested in his palm meant more than however many this voice was asking him to look at, whatever the voice was saying about how many was being held up, some other's hand that meant nothing to him at all. He suddenly felt like he never held Chromia's hand enough. He felt the sudden urge to grab her other hand, but he couldn't move..._

_A snapping sound near his audio interrupted his thoughts, the same voice calling his name. Ironhide was disoriented. He felt extremely exhausted. He could hardly move, the squeezing of Chromia's hand being the only movement he could make with ease. He was more drained, more energy deficient, than he ever felt in his entire lifetime. He turned his head towards the snapping sound out of instinct, the simple movement taking all his strength to make._

_"Ironhide, look at me," he heard the voice saying. "How many fingers am I holding up?"_

_Ironhide just stared blankly. He realized exactly who was trying to get his attention, but lacked the strength to so much as even curl his mouthplates in disgust. He blamed his current condition and the torment of his spark over the last few orns entirely on the source of that voice._

_"I hate you," Ironhide spoke as loud as his voice capacitor would allow him to, which was barely above a whisper._

_Ironhide's expression came out flat and nonthreatening. There was no menace behind it. He simply didn't have the strength. The simple act of speaking just those three words left him feeling worn out._

_Ratchet dropped his hand, saying, "Okay, you're fine."_

_The CMO ran several scans over the helpless bot. Ratchet was concerned about him, but Ironhide hadn't lost his ire, so that was a good sign. He was injured when he joined with Chromia to bring her out of terminal lock. The process would completely drain even the healthiest of bots, the mate in terminal lock needing most of the other's energy. Since Ironhide didn't have much energy to begin with, most of which had been used to sustain his injuries, the merge drained every bit of energy he had, to include all his reserves. Chromia's systems needed all she could get and Ironhide's systems just didn't have enough for both of them. Chromia was successfully revived, but Ironhide had gone into stasis lock. Chromia's spark was the only thing that sustained him._

_Ratchet got there just in time to revive him. Chromia had been awake, but she succumbed to recharge as soon as Ratchet assured her that Ironhide was going to be okay. He had already given Ironhide two energon transfusions by the time she became unconscious. It was going to take some time for each of them to regain their energy._

_Once Ironhide was stable, Ratchet set out to repair the bot's injuries. While he worked on Ironhide's mangled foot, he tried to keep the mech awake. Ironhide kept drifting in and out of consciousness, so every now and then he'd snap his fingers in Ironhide's audio and ask him to do various things to keep him moving. This time was the first time Ironhide actually spoke to him, so things were looking more and more optimistic by the breem._

_Ratchet regretted that he wasn't in the med bay when Ironhide arrived. He had only been gone for a few joors, for First Aid's debrief of the failed Elita rescue mission, but there was nothing he could do about it at that point. Nightfire had already informed Ironhide and Ironhide had already merged with Chromia before anyone could do anything about his injuries. All Ratchet could do was pick up where things had developed when he was gone._

_Ratchet tweaked a pain receptor in Ironhide's ankle and nodded with satisfaction when the mech grunted in pain. Ratchet had done that before and gotten no response, so he was happy that Ironhide's systems were reviving enough to sense pain. Ratchet wanted him to be fully conscious by the time he worked on his arm. He had stopped the flow of energon from the wound, but he was going to need Ironhide to be in a sitting position to gain the best access to repair it._

_Wheeljack walked into the room and arranged several tools and parts on a tray next to the berth. He paused when Ratchet snapped his fingers at Ironhide again._

_"How are they doing?" he asked._

_Ratchet glanced in his direction before tweaking another pain receptor, making Ironhide grunt again. He gave Wheeljack a satisfactory smile, "They're going to be fine."_

_"Where is Nightfire?" Ratchet asked after a few moments of silence, not looking up from his work, already thinking of the patient that needed the most help next._

_"I haven't seen her since you got back," Wheeljack replied._

_It was Ratchet's turn to pause. Since Nightfire had expressed concern that Chromia wouldn't come out of terminal lock, he had thought that she'd be happy to know that Chromia was doing well. He was never sure if her concern was real or just an extension of her programming, but he wanted to gloat to her that his method had worked, no matter what her sentiments were. However, he secretly hoped that her concern was real, that it was from her spark._

_"Has she allowed you to run any scans on her yet?" Ratchet asked next, his own concern always being more than an extension of his programming, even if he rarely showed it, even if few realized it._

_"No. She only lets me give her the mag pulses," Wheeljack replied._

_"Well, that's more than she lets me do," Ratchet said. He had given her the mag pulses once, but he didn't give her any choice in the matter. "I think she trusts you more. Keep working on it."_

_Wheeljack had been with her from the beginning. She seemed to allow him to do more for her than she let Ratchet do, but she wasn't allowing any of them to scan her. Wheeljack had tried several times, just as Ratchet had, but Ratchet was convinced that she'd let Wheeljack scan her before she'd let him do it. And First Aid didn't stand a chance. Nightfire never let him anywhere near her for anything._

_"I don't think she trusts __**any **__of us," Wheeljack said._

_Ratchet nodded his head, thinking. She was getting worse and he could tell. If she didn't open up to one of them soon, he was going to have to just make her. She was proving to be just as stubborn as Ironhide and Chromia. With that thought, Ratchet tweaked another pain receptor and, this time, Ironhide turned to look straight at him, finally perceiving where the cause of the pain was coming from, his mind becoming more and more alert to everything around him besides Chromia._

_"Stop doing that," he growled hoarsely._

_Ratchet ignored him, satisfied that Ironhide was recovering quite well. His drastic measures were working on the stubborn pair. They would work on Nightfire too. If he had to strap Nightfire to a berth and manually remove that disruptor, then that was just what he was going to have to do. It wasn't something he really wanted to do, but, then again, neither was putting Chromia in terminal lock. It would be a last resort measure, just as that had been. He didn't know how much longer Nightfire had left, but he would never know and they would never be able to help her as long as they couldn't scan her to see what was ailing._

_Wheeljack had a few more patients to attend to, so he turned to leave, asking, "Do you need anything else?"_

_Ratchet looked over the items Wheeljack had placed on the tray and shook his head 'no.'_

_Once Wheeljack was gone, he leaned down and connected to Ironhide's CPU port to transfer some more energy. Ironhide snarled at him. It seemed he had become as adverse to CPU energy transfusions as Chromia had. No thoughts passed between them and _

_Ratchet sat back up when he was done. Ironhide just glared at him._

_Ratchet held up three fingers, "How many fingers am I holding up?"_

_"Go frag yourself," Ironhide replied, looking away._

_Ironhide was seething. The last bot he wanted to see was Ratchet and Ratchet knew it. Ironhide would probably never forgive him for what he did, but the bottom line was that Ironhide and Chromia were going to live. That's what mattered to Ratchet. He didn't care if they spent the rest of their vorns cursing him; at least they were alive to do so._

_Ratchet couldn't help but smirk at the mech. Perhaps he'd listen to him next time._

_"Took it out of you, didn't it?" Ratchet spoke conversationally, as if they were just enjoying each other's company._

_Ironhide narrowed his optics, the energy Ratchet had just given him allowing him to finally be able to focus again. The first thing he did was glance down at his and Chromia's hands, giving him a visual of what he was already feeling. Then, his mind slowly focused on what Ratchet was saying._

_Took it out of him? Ironhide felt like a whole battalion of Decepticons ran him over. If he had the strength, he would have taken something out of Ratchet...like his spark, maybe._

_Ratchet could practically see Ironhide's murderous intent written on his face, but he wasn't the least bit threatened. The mech was going to be mad at him for a long time, but Ironhide would never harm a fellow Autobot, and Ratchet knew that better than anyone, except for maybe Optimus._

_Ratchet applied the last finishing repairs to Ironhide's foot and ankle, closing various panels. He watched Ironhide out of the corner of his optic. Ironhide was intent on watching Chromia. He was still holding her hand, which he hadn't let go of even while drifting in and out of consciousness._

_"For two bots trying to self destruct, your sparks sure do aim to keep you both alive," Ratchet commented as he picked up the frequency of their sparks harmonizing._

_Ironhide said nothing, not even acknowledging that he even heard Ratchet at all. Ratchet figured it was intentional. Ironhide was such a stubborn aft._

_Shrugging it off, Ratchet reached down and grabbed Ironhide's good arm, pulling gently. He tried to gently remove Chromia's hand from Ironhide's, but Ironhide suddenly gripped it, not letting it go._

_"Come on, now," Ratchet said. "I need you to sit up."_

_Ironhide complied laboriously, but he still didn't let go of her hand. Ratchet grabbed his shoulder as he almost fell back, helping him to a sitting position on the edge of the berth. Ironhide drug Chromia's arm with him, which was now laying across his lap from the side of his injured arm, her hand in his good hand on the opposite site of his body, putting her arm directly in the way of the repairs Ratchet needed to make._

_Ironhide unexpectedly shook with alarm as his mind became fully awake, thinking of something important he learned while at Trypticon. Now that the most important thing to him was sleeping soundly right next to him, safe and alive, Ironhide could concentrate on other concerns that affected them all as a whole._

_The movement startling him, Ratchet sat back to run a scan to see what could be wrong with Ironhide's frame._

_"Elita..." Ironhide said. He tried contacting Optimus, but the com was closed. "Optimus...Where is he? He needs to know that Elita is at Trypticon."_

_Ratchet paused. He wasn't sure he wanted to know how and where Ironhide found that out._

_"That's the good news," Ironhide said, misinterpreting the look on Ratchet's face. "The bad news is that it's going to be nearly impossible to get to her. Trypticon is alive. The city is actually a mech."_

_Ratchet stood up to inspect Ironhide's shoulder, making sure that the injury started at the elbow and not that far up. Ironhide looked at him with surprise, unsure why Ratchet wasn't rushing to let Optimus know this information immediately._

_"Ratchet?" Ironhide wasn't sure whether to be surprised or disgusted. "This is more important than my arm..." Elita was key to Optimus's survival. Optimus needed to know what he was up against. If they lost Optimus, they would lose everything. Ironhide didn't care if he lost his arm entirely. It was insignificant compared to everything else._

_"We already know," Ratchet interrupted him._

_"Already know? But Optimus..." The look on Ironhide's face was pure disbelief._

_"Already knows," Ratchet finished._

_"About Elita? About what Trypticon is? About everything?" If Ironhide's disbelief got any deeper, Ratchet was certain that he'd alarm Chromia to consciousness._

_"The best thing you can do for Optimus..." Ratchet looked Ironhide straight in the optics, "for me... for Chromia... is to stay right here. If you don't stay here, next time Chromia may not just be in terminal lock. Next time, it could be real."_

_Ironhide's mouthplates moved, but nothing came out. Next time Chromia could truly be dead..._

_Everything he found out, all the information he had, was for nothing. He didn't help anyone in any way by going off like he did, least of all Chromia. Even his vengeance left him feeling hollow. He didn't feel any better about his sparkling's death. In fact, he felt worse because of the things he did...and he almost lost his sparkmate in the process. However, no amount of remorse would keep him from fighting the Decepticons. He would just have to wait until Chromia could go with him. And, while they were at it together, he just had to remember what the lines were, what made him an Autobot, and he would never cross them ever again. He gripped her hand tighter..._

_"I'm not going anywhere. I'm not letting her out of my sight."_

_Ratchet nodded at him. "Good...Now, let go for one breem."_

_Ironhide pulled Chromia's hand closer to his body, as if doing so would protect them from being separated ever again._

_"No," Ironhide said without hesitation._

_Ratchet couldn't help but smile. The whole terminal lock ordeal affected Ironhide better than he could have imagined._

_Ironhide glared at him. "You're very proud of yourself, aren't you?" By now, there was no question in Ironhide's mind that Ratchet was the one who placed Chromia in terminal lock._

_"Yes," Ratchet answered, unable to keep his ego from swelling over the fact that his plan had worked._

_Ironhide had been in bad shape, but he made it. Ratchet had no idea what Ironhide went through to get back there, but he knew how Ironhide's CPU worked. Contrary to what Nightfire believed, it did cross Ratchet's mind that Ironhide might just give up if he thought he'd lost Chromia. However, Ratchet knew him well. Even if he had given up, his programming would loop back around to find a reason, to find a way. Sometimes Ironhide's reasoning was slow, but he was there and Chromia was doing fine. There was no way that Ironhide would ever truly give up on her, even if it was just to see her one last time. They were going to have to join often to get up to speed, but Ratchet was sure that they could work that out, especially after the scare Ironhide had just had in fearing that she had been gone forever._

_Ironhide counted her fingers again, brushing over each of them with his thumb, while glaring at Ratchet even harder._

_"I want to punch you in the face," Ironhide voiced his thoughts, never one to keep such thoughts to himself anyway._

_That, Ratchet knew, Ironhide wouldn't hesitate to do in an astro-second if he was able, fellow Autobot or not. Ironhide started to slump down and Ratchet righted him again. He started to grip the back of Ironhide's neck to transfer a little more energy, but Ironhide jerked away._

_"I can sit up long enough for you to get me a cube of energon," Ironhide growled, clearly angered by Ratchet's repeated energy transfers through his CPU port._

_It was Ratchet's turn to glare at Ironhide. Drinking energon was not as direct of an energy boost as transferring energy through a port. It would take longer for Ironhide to gain his strength that way. Ratchet reached to transfer the energy anyway, always opting for the most efficient method despite how the patient may feel about it._

_"Please," Ironhide said somewhat softly, leaning away from Ratchet's hand, avoiding his optics. He was clearly uncomfortable in asking anything of Ratchet, even ashamed to do so. He hated being at the mercy of another mech, but he really didn't want anyone near his CPU for anything._

_Ratchet's own expression softened. Ironhide had been through a lot. Ratchet, himself, had put Ironhide through a lot. The port transfer would be better, but he could grant Ironhide this one request. If the mech would rather re-energize through liquid energon, then Ratchet owed it to him to allow him to do so. _

_"Okay, buddy," Ratchet said, acknowledging their friendship for the first time in a long time._


	42. Recovery Part I

**posted May 10, 2009**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES (you can skip down to the clearly marked start of the chapter)**:

[EDIT on June 1, 2009: Review responses have been moved to 'REVIEW RESPONSES for ch. 41' on my biopage. I cannot thank you all enough!]

Thanks to the enthusiastic reviewers of chapter 41: **Katanagirl16, Sergeant Duck, Flameshield, Bluebird Soaring, vanillathunder215, blood-tempest, flamingmarsh, Transflashbacks, CuteKittten, Blume, Violetlight, **and** iluvbee1990.**

**TO ALL MY READERS, NEW AND OLD**: I am almost to 800 reviews! I can't believe it! You are all so wonderful. This story would not have gotten this far without all the wonderful reviews that it has gotten. I am truly grateful to all of you and I look forward to each and every review that you are so kind to leave. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: Vampiric-Conure, StarscreamFan, WhiteFire86**

**[Story Alert]: Ytak**

Too cool!

**Total visiting countries during the month of April**: USA, UK, Canada, Netherlands, Sweden, Puerto Rico, Australia, Indonesia, Argentina, Germany, Costa Rica, Finland, Singapore, Mexico, Taiwan, Philippines, Poland, Bermuda, Chile, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, China, South Africa, Barbados, Russia, and Ireland. WHOAH!

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters and the plot are the intellectual property of Litahatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee. Litahatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma. **The characters are different in each of our stories, but the name is hers.

Don't forget to wish all of your mothers a Happy Mothers Day today, even if you don't get along with her. She's sacrificed a lot for you.

WARNING NOTE: This chapter is HUGE, in several ways. I am so happy with the way it turned out that I can't wait to post it! As such, I didn't go through my normal OCD routine of editing and re-editing the crap out of it. It's something you've all been waiting for, at least during the past time-frame (but not involving Ratchet...sorry...not quite there yet) and I just can't wait to give it to you... *cough cough*. So, CHAPTER WARNING here, as this one is nothing short of the mature rating this story has on it.

This chapter is back to the present, followed by a flashback immediately following the flashback in ch. 41. Remember; normal print is the present, _Italics _are a flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 42

Recovery Part I

by Litahatchee

Ratchet finished his scans and the weld replacement without any further interruptions from his own thoughts, or from anything else. It was quiet. He couldn't remember a time when things had been so quiet. The war had been a long, never ending nexus of sounds and events that he'd just as soon forget. In the recent Earth years following the Mission City battle, Ratchet took a few moments to enjoy the quiet every now and then. He found that he was enjoying it now, too.

Even before the war, Cybertron had been a busy, bustling, planet, albeit a more positive activity than during the war. There was always something going on, some bot always needing repair from an accident or just plain everyday wear and tear. Granted, he was working on a bot now, but, as far as he knew, they were the only two on the ship, and this bot was locked in recharge, so not much sound coming from her. Ratchet took a moment to listen to the silence and smiled. He liked the quiet.

There wasn't a time in his entire life when he thought that he'd have an entire ship the size and class of the Ark virtually to himself. It was unthinkable that the population would ever get so small that they'd have to choose a crew for a ship this size sparingly. Ratchet frowned at that thought. It suddenly became too quiet and an involuntary shudder traveled through his frame.

Ratchet snorted at himself. Just a moment before, he was enjoying the quiet and now it seemed frightening? Perhaps it had to do with Chromia's presence.

Having a femme among them gave him a hope that he had lost as soon as they lost the AllSpark. Of course, Optimus and Ironhide were still alive up to that loss, meaning that their sparkmates were more than likely alive as well. However, until Chromia actually arrived on Earth, Ratchet had considered the possibility that Optimus and Ironhide's sparkmates hadn't survived. He had considered the idea that Optimus and Ironhide would succumb to sparkshock and that he and Bumblebee would be the last Cybertronians, or, in the very least, among the last. It took him awhile to come to peace with that thought, but he had to consider it. He knew, deep down, that Optimus had been considering it too. Ironhide, on the other hand, would have never let himself think of such a thing. He would have died thinking that Chromia was still out there somewhere. He simply refused to believe otherwise.

The next thing they all knew, Chromia showed up. Granted, she wasn't a femme that could give them the ultimate hope; that of reproduction. However, the fact that she was there, that she survived, that she was alive, meant that there was hope. Ratchet listened to her systems as they whirred. He was glad to know, for certain, that he and Bumblebee would not be the last. Ironhide and Chromia would be with them now. There would at least be four of them.

Chromia's presence also meant that there had to be others, despite the fact that they hadn't heard anything since Optimus's call. Not only that, but if Chromia could make it there, then there was hope that Elita One could make it there too. Elita was supposed to have been with Chromia, so there were some questions there that he, and no doubt Optimus, would like to ask. Whatever the case, the possibilities of Elita arriving as well were enough to fill Ratchet with an all-encompassing hope. That would mean that Optimus would live and reproduction would be a given with those two. The thought was enough to make Ratchet smile again.

Remembering what a noise-maker Bumblebee was as a sparkling, Ratchet decided that he could try to enjoy the quiet again, without the ominous lack of life that it suddenly represented...

As he readied the plate that First Aid had used to shore up Chromia's spark casing, Ratchet thought again about just replacing the whole thing. After the scans that he had just done of Chromia's spark, he was certain, now, that her spark could handle the procedure. He also now had several ideas on how to deal with the possible shrapnel issue. It was still a risky procedure, so he wasn't going to do it until he had informed both Ironhide and Chromia of the benefits and the risks. He still didn't like the risk of losing one of the last bonded pairs, but, as Will Lennox had so eloquently put it, they were all rare now, even the mechs. Besides, Ratchet felt more confident about the procedure now than he had back when the injury was still new. Ultimately, though, he would leave it up to them...

...Unless Optimus decided the risks were too great, not wanting to lose any more Cybertronians to anything either. With that train of thought and thinking back to he and Bumblebee possibly becoming the last, Ratchet pondered not telling Ironhide and Chromia about the possible success of such a procedure at all.

Ratchet shook the thoughts away. As a medic, he felt compelled to inform them of the possibilities of giving them a better life, even if the procedure could kill them. They could decide for themselves if the risks were worth it. As their friend, he owed it to them.

Suddenly, Chromia's spark fluctuated, a thin tendril of spark energy reaching out before arcing back down. Ratchet stepped back, holding his hands out on either side of her chassis as he prepared himself for this new development. He hadn't bolted down the plate yet, so he pulled it away for fear that her spark might expand. If it didn't have anywhere to expand to, the damage could be irreversible.

"Whoah," he exclaimed to himself, quickly running several scans to figure out what might have gone wrong.

The next few moments took him completely by surprise, reminding him exactly why he liked the peaceful quiet, as all manner of Pit broke lose in the med bay.

He thought he heard running footsteps and then the doors to the med bay were thrust open with a resounding loud clap, shoved into the walls next to them. The next thing Ratchet knew, a crazed black mech was upon him, his sight bursting into an array of dazzling stars as something impacted his lower jaw. Unable to stand on his own from the crushing blow, Ratchet fell to the floor, the plate he'd been holding flying clear across the room, skidding to a halt under a med berth.

"Don't do it!"

Ratchet thought he heard yelling, but his mind was too cloudy to know for certain as he lay, dazed, on the floor. Then it all came to him in a flash; Ironhide rushing through the doors and landing an extremely forceful punch to his face. The pain came next and Ratchet shuttered his optics against it as he tried to sit up.

"Ironhide?" Ratchet tried to look at him, but the lights suddenly seemed too bright.

"You don't have to do it! I'm right here! I'll join with her; I swear it!" Ironhide was gesturing towards his chest, showing Ratchet that he was right there as much as saying it.

Ratchet shook his head, trying to clear it, until he was finally able to focus on him. "You're going to have to when I'm done with her."

Chromia already needed Ironhide before the procedure, so she was going to be positively drained by the time Ratchet woke her up. Ratchet was glad that Ironhide was agreeable to join with her, as she was going to need all the energy that she could get.

Thinking that Ratchet meant that he was going through with putting her in terminal lock again, Ironhide suddenly grabbed him up, hauling back his fist for another blow.

Ratchet threw up his hands, "Wait! What the frag are you talking about?!" As more and more of his awareness came back to him, Ratchet found that he was just more confused.

"Don't put her in terminal lock. I'm right here; it's not necessary," Ironhide said quickly, panic and anger evident in his voice. He was furious that Ratchet would even think of putting them through that again, and scared that he really might.

"Terminal lock?" Ratchet continued to shake the confusion from his mind and then remembered the little threat he gave Chromia in order for her to open up to Ironhide. It obviously worked, but the reaction was definitely not what he expected, and also a little late.

"I'm not putting her in terminal lock, Ironhide," Ratchet growled as full understanding dawned on him.

"Then what the frag are you doing?" Ironhide asked in his own confusion, Chromia's warning still fresh on his mind.

"She's locked in recharge. She's fine. I'm just replacing the weld." Ratchet pushed away from him and Ironhide released him as they glared at each other.

Ironhide's expression suddenly changed to that of concern. He looked at Chromia's face, not wanting to see what Ratchet was doing to her casing, and then at the floor, before saying, "I...don't think I can handle that again."

Ratchet's own expression softened and he just nodded his head in understanding. He wasn't blind to the emotional effect placing Chromia in terminal lock had had on Ironhide. In fact, he had intended it...though he didn't realize that it would hit Ironhide as hard as it did.

Ratchet opened his mouth to say something, but noticed a soft glow coming from Ironhide's chest. His optics widened at the sudden understanding of why Chromia's spark fluctuated and the energy flared out. He remembered what Will had told him about Ironhide and Chromia's reactions to each other when she first arrived, and then also at his barn. Her spark was recognizing her mate and reacting to its need. Ratchet threw a glance over to Chromia and became alarmed when he saw a virtual storm of her spark energy trying to escape through the open bottom of her casing.

"You need to leave right now," he shoved Ironhide towards the door.

Ironhide shoved back, looking at him suspiciously, "I'm not going anywhere."

Ratchet blew air out of his vents in exasperation. "I'm not putting her in terminal lock, but you have to leave."

"I don't trust you," Ironhide said, his optics narrowing. He wasn't about to take any chances with the possibility of terminal lock.

"Your presence is affecting her spark," Ratchet growled, trying to get through Ironhide's thick CPU to some circuit of reasoning.

Ratchet shook his head at the irony. He desperately needed Ironhide there before the weld replacement, now he desperately needed Ironhide to leave.

Ironhide wasn't getting it, refusing to budge a step.

"You're hurting her, Ironhide. Look," Ratchet pointed to her chest. Visuals worked wonders on Ironhide, but when he initially refused to look, Ratchet added, "Leave before I make you leave." Ratchet was still dazed from the punch, but he could make Ironhide leave if he needed to.

Ironhide didn't see how he was hurting her. She was affecting his spark as well, and it felt comforting to him, so it had to be comforting to her as well. He didn't want to look at first. Seeing her spark casing during repairs was very unsettling, but he looked anyway. His optics widened in concern as he realized that the metal plate that Ratchet had been holding **was** the bottom of her casing, and that her spark was trying to get to him through the opening. A panic zipped through him, causing her spark to flash.

Ratchet grabbed his arm, escorting him towards the door, saying, "She's going to be fine, but you've got to put some distance between her and yourself." He then quickly added, "But don't go far, because this will only take a breem."

Calmed by Ratchet's assurance that she was okay and satisfied that he wasn't putting her in terminal lock, Ironhide shrugged Ratchet off to go on his own. However, as soon as Ratchet let go of him, Ironhide swiftly turned around, his fist coming around with him to land another punch in Ratchet's face.

Ratchet staggered back. The punch stunned him, a new set of stars bursting before his optics, but not nearly as bad as the first one. The second punch wasn't as hard, but still got the point accross, whatever the point was...

"What was that for?!" Ratchet yelled as he rubbed his jaw, incredulous, but thankful that he was able to stay on his feet this time.

Ironhide turned to go again, saying over his shoulder as he walked out the door, "That was for last time."

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Ironhide paced outside the med bay doors. He was nervous about what needed to be done about what he and Chromia had been avoiding. He was worried that Chromia wouldn't listen and, yet, he was afraid she would. He was scared...

"You need to get further away than that!" he heard Ratchet yell from inside. Chromia's spark was still reacting to Ironhide's proximity.

Ironhide growled at the doors in frustration, staring at them as if Ratchet could see his impatience, and wishing that Ratchet could.

Ironhide suddenly got an idea about what to do next. Chromia probably wasn't going to be willing to just walk out and talk to him when Ratchet was done anyway. Ironhide knew her too well. She'd just blow it off and never say anything until she had another episode, which could be vorns from now. He wasn't going to let Chromia avoid it any longer. He couldn't avoid it any longer. They couldn't avoid it any longer together. He wanted to make things right so bad that he could feel it deep down in his spark.

Ironhide knew what they did wrong the first time around...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_After Ironhide had a couple cubes of energon, Ratchet was able to convince him to let go of Chromia's hand long enough for him to repair his arm. Ironhide didn't have to wait as long as he thought. Once he turned it lose, Ratchet brought her arm around behind Ironhide so that it was no longer in Ratchet's way for the repair, yet her hand was still free to hold. Ratchet even placed it back in Ironhide's hand. He knew Ironhide needed the strength and security the simple act of holding it could give him. Ironhide even chucked to himself, feeling much better after the energon. _

_"Oh," he said once he understood that Ratchet wasn't trying to make him let go of her hand and that it was just that her arm was in the way. "I guess I could have done that."_

_"It's hard to get through to you, sometimes," Ratchet retorted, giving the understatement of a lifetime._

_Neither one of them said anything more as Ratchet repaired Ironhide's arm. Once Ratchet was done threading the last of the wiring, he asked Ironhide to perform various tasks, such as raising his arm, wiggling his fingers, and grabbing a cube of energon. He tested everything, including sensations. Once he got to the pain receptors, he warned Ironhide that he was about to trigger them before doing it, unlike with his ankle. _

_When Ratchet was finished, he put his hands on his knees and said to Ironhide, "Well, the next part is up to you."_

_Chromia stirred and Ironhide looked at her, her hand grasping his when she realized that he was holding it. _

_"I trust that you know what to do," Ratchet said as he stood up. Not waiting for Ironhide to answer, but not expecting one, he added, "I'll leave you to it, then."_

_He would give them their privacy. If they didn't take advantage of it, then he was back to square one. Judging by the way Ironhide was looking at her, though, he didn't think he had to worry about that. With that thought, Ratchet left the room, leaving Chromia to Ironhide. He had other things on his mind, the first of which was to find Nightfire and tell her 'I told you so.'_

_Chromia stirred again, a soft moan sounding from her vocalizer as she became conscious. Ironhide lay back down and pulled himself beside her, his optics never leaving her face, his hand never releasing hers. He knew what to do, he just didn't know if he had the strength to do it. It wasn't physical strength he was worried about, but the mental capacity to be forced to see what Sunshadow had become in their universe. He paused as he realized that he didn't remember much about the meld to bring her out of terminal lock. He did not see the void, though. The Black Hole was something that couldn't be forgotten, so the fact that he couldn't remember it...His optics widened as he came to a realization. He was thinking of nothing but her when he joined with her..._

_Perhaps that was the answer. If she could think of nothing but him and he nothing but her, then maybe they could avoid the Black Hole alltogether and their joinings would become much more pleasant again. Ironhide pulled himself closer to her, until his frame was flush against hers. _

_Chromia's optics fluttered open at the sensual contact to her frame. She knew it was Ironhide. His spark was calling so intensely that she could practically feel it joined with hers already._

_"Hey," she whispered. His face was barely a handspan away. _

_"Hey," he whispered back, dipping his head down to rub his cheeks against hers affectionately._

_"You came back," she whispered in his audio, leaning her face into his, tenderly returning the affection._

_"I almost didn't," he murmured painfully before lifting his head to look her in the optics. "I thought..." Ironhide brought her hand to his chest, right over his spark, his other hand cupping her face as he curled around her frame. "I thought I'd lost you."_

_Chromia could feel the turmoil in his spark. She couldn't fathom what it would be like to lose him. She couldn't fathom what it was like for him to think that he had lost her... _

_"I didn't think that he was serious," Chromia sounded apologetic, her voice becoming desperate. "He didn't give me much time. I tried to warn you..." Anger began to well up at what Ironhide had to endure because of what Ratchet did. Fragging Ratchet! She was going to kill him! However, it was all because of her, because of her refusal to do what he asked._

_Ironhide pulled her into a full embrace. The last being he blamed was her. He didn't blame her at all. He didn't want her to feel that she needed to apologize. He just held her, soothing her through their bond and whispering that it wasn't her fault. _

_"None of it is your fault," he said to her. Nothing that they had to endure, from the events leading up to Sunshadow's death to the events afterwards up to this moment, was ever her fault._

_Ironhide continued to hold her through the cycle. He was there, and he wasn't going anywhere. He placed his hand on her chassis and leaned down to brush his mouthplates against her forehead. She trembled against him slightly, her own turmoil easily readable through their bond._

_"Hide, I..." she started._

_He gently shushed her, "You don't have to talk about it."_

_"I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about any of it," she spoke quietly, as if just the sound of her voice implying their pain would shatter her completely._

_Ironhide's very spark seemed to embrace her, lulling her into any comfort that she would accept, but not convinced himself that he could be strong enough for her... _

_"I don't want to talk about it either," he said._

_Chromia glanced around the room as if she was lost, her optics finally landing on Ironhide's hands. "What are we going to do?"_

_He didn't know the answer to that. He just didn't know. They could leave it all behind... They could live in the med bay. They never had to go back to their home, never to anywhere other than where the war took them. No reminders, no attachments other than what they had for each other..._

_Ironhide suddenly rose above her, his spark hovering directly above hers as he rested on his elbows to look at her face. She was all he had. She was all he wanted._

_"Do you want me?" he asked._

_"I need you, yes," she answered, avoiding his optics._

_Ironhide shifted, reaching back with one hand to gently grab her upper leg and pull her into his frame for the best spark access possible. Her intakes hitched as her back arched, her chassis being thrust against his, their armor locking together as natural jagged edges caught against each other. _

_"No," he tried again,"Do you __**want**__ me?" _

_He let her know just how much he still wanted her, how much he still desired her, as she was filled with warmth and passion from both his frame and his spark. She could feel his spark pulsing against hers through their frames._

_She finally made optic contact with him and he gazed in her optics as she gazed in his. He could get lost forever in her optics..._

_She lifted her hand and caressed his face, paying particular attention to his cloudy, blinded, optic and his scar. He allowed it. He welcomed it, even. Any touch from her was comforting to him. _

_"I've always wanted you, Ironhide," she said lovingly, her optics becoming soft. "That has not changed."_

_Chromia suddenly became infused with Ironhide's love, his spark pulsing more rapidly as he was overcome with his desire for her. She pushed her chest into his further and his own vents hitched in anticipation. He curled into her, wanting to be a part of everything that was Chromia. He wished he could interface with her, but refrained from touching the scar for fear that it would send her reeling. He wanted to connect to her CPU, but avoided that as well, as everything surrounding her new abhorrence of that connection was still too fresh. He settled with roving his hands over her frame, touching and pulling her to himself as close as they could get, short of actually spark bonding. His mouthplates found her neck, tugging on every support strut he could curl them around..._

_Ironhide became keenly aware of one major thing that was missing..._

_Chromia wasn't reciprocating the feelings. She was accepting them, but the more he tried to get a response from her, the more emotion he poured into the bond, the more uncertain she seemed to become._

_Chromia suddenly withdrew from him. Ironhide held her tighter, as if doing so would catch her retreating spark. She tried to push him away._

_"I don't know if I can..." she said despairingly._

_Ironhide didn't know how he could touch her. He so desperately wanted to interface to show her that it was alright. Yet, he wasn't entirely sure if it was alright. The only way he could communicate to her was through their sparks and his hands. How else could he draw strength from her? How could she draw strength from him?_

_"You can," he said. "I can. We can do this..." They had to. They had to find a way._

_Chromia withdrew even further, her slight passion dying down before it really had a chance to get started._

_Ironhide wasn't about to give up this time. He couldn't touch her like he wanted to. Maybe he could reason with her, as ironic as that was coming from him._

_"Do you want Ratchet to force this on us every time?" he asked in frustration. "That is not the way it is supposed to be."_

_"None of this is the way it is supposed to be," Chromia responded._

_Ironhide cycled air in and out of his vents in anxiety. "Don't think about him, Chromia." _

_Chromia knew that he was talking about Sunshadow, but how was she not to think about him?_

_"Don't think about what happened," Ironhide continued. "There's only you and me."_

_Chromia's own anxiety, fueled by Ironhide's, began to overwhelm her. _

_"But what about the...you know." She couldn't say it. She couldn't accept that it was there. The Black Hole was controlling their lives, but there was no way to get rid of it. It only seemed to be getting bigger..._

_Ironhide knew exactly what she was talking about. "We'll stay away from it."_

_"How?"_ _she asked._

_Chromia was suddenly overcome with love and devotion, a desire to join with Ironhide that was so great that she could think of nothing but him. Ironhide was distracting her. It was working, but she didn't know for how long. _

_"Don't think about it," he said, bombarding her with a wave of passion so deep that she gasped._ _"Just let go. There's only you and me."_

_He watched her mouthplates as they formed a silent plea for release. At that moment, he knew how he could touch her. He placed his mouthplates over hers and drew upon them lightly. Her spark exploded with an intense passion that took him by surprise. He deepened the massage, drawing strength from her as he drowned her with his own passion. She moaned deliciously against his mouthplates, setting him on fire. _

_Ironhide began fondling her chassis, sending a light magnetic pulse through her chest to her spark. She released a soft pleasurable whimper, moving into his caresses. He thumbed the latch, nugding her chassis open, not intending to stop there as his hand dove for her spark casing while he continued to deeply massage her mouthplates with his own. Every sensory ending she had was on edge. All he needed to do was..._

_Chromia called out in exquisite pleasure as Ironhide's fingers found their way into her spark casing, gently stroking the very essence of who she was: her spark._

_Her pleasurable cry fueling a desire that was quickly becoming an overpowering need, Ironhide's own chassis opened, responding to the call of her spark for his._

_Cooling fans whirring ninety to nothing, Ironhide began lowering himself, several tendrils of spark energy reaching out between them to intertwine together. They both cried out in unison as spikes of exquisite sensation traveled from their sparks throughout their chests. _

_Just as Ironhide was about to let go, just as he was about to give himself fully to the merge, he noticed Chromia flinch. It was barely perceptible, but he noticed. That one moment of hesitation was enough to let him know that she wasn't ready. She wasn't fully focused. Her half of The One could drag them to The Black Hole._

_Ironhide pulled himself off of her, the pain of the separation almost too much to bear. _

_"What the frag are you doing?!" Chromia screeched, her own pain slapping him hard through their bond. _

_"You're thinking too much!" Ironhide yelled back, frustration taking hold of him. _

_"I'm thinking about __**you**__, you fragger!" Chromia snarled at him._

_Ironhide realized his mistake, and regretted it immediately, trying to compensate by throwing gratifying emotions into their bond. He was met with aggravation and a shocking jolt from her spark._

_"Quit fighting me," he accused. _

_He deserved her ire, but he was too angry with himself to admit it. They were so close and he blew it. _

_Ironhide heard the transformation sequence an astrosecond before Chromia's cannon materialized on her shoulder. In the next astrosecond, he jumped back, twisting around to avoid the shot that Chromia took in the following astrosecond. The shot hit the ceiling, showering them with debris, but she used his momentum of jumping away from her to her advantage. All it took was a quick kick to his shoulder to knock him flat on his back. Chromia pounced on him, aiming her cannon right at his face._

_"I'm not fighting you!" she yelled, not accepting his accusation for one astrosecond. _

_Right at that moment, Wheeljack entered the room, having heard gunfire as he was passing by just moments before. _

_"Is everything okay in here..." Wheeljack's voice trailed off as he got an optic full of what exactly was going on._

_Ironhide was laying on the floor, his chestplating open so far that it looked like his spark was hovering above him. Chromia was right on top of him, straddling him, leaning down on her fists which were wrapped around his wrists, holding his arms to both sides of his head. Her own chest plating was wide open, her shoulder cannon aimed straight at Ironhide's face. _

_Ironhide's optics were ablaze, clearly excited despite the obvious threat. The mech was more than likely excited __**because **__of the obvious threat, Wheeljack realized. Ironhide had a huge grin on his face that could best be described as nothing less than pure enjoyment. _

_As far as Wheeljack could tell, Ironhide was oblivious to his presence. Chromia, however, was not..._

_She brought her cannon to bear on Wheeljack, screaming, "Leave us the frag alone!" She was sick and tired of the slagging medics._

_Wheeljack was out of there so fast, she didn't have time to take the shot. _

_The utter irony of Chromia physically fighting him while saying that she wasn't mentally fighting him was not lost on Ironhide, thoroughly exciting him all the way to his toe-plating. He was so focused on her that he didn't realize that anyone had come into the room until she screamed at whoever it was. Taking advantage of Chromia's momentary distraction, he quickly sat up, grabbing her cannon arm and rolling around until he had her pinned to the floor beneath him. He held her shoulder steadfastly against the floor. At that angle, she was unable to bring her cannon to bear on him. He drug his hand over the entire length of her arm, bringing it above her head as he leaned down and forward on it until his arm lay flush on top of hers. He took her hand into his own, gazing upon her in pure adoration. There was no being in the entire universe that he loved more._

_A thrill coursed through her spark, escaping her frame in a trembling ripple, igniting a fiery passion within them both. He was sure that she was thinking of nothing but him and he was entirely focused on her. Not letting up on her arm and not releasing her hand, Ironhide didn't wait another moment as he pressed himself to her frame, smothering her from head to foot. Her free arm wrapped around his lower back as their sparks made contact, pulling him ever closer with all her strength as they united in an explosion of rapturous ecstasy. _

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AN: Holy crap, that was some intense writing! My head is spinning...*runs to jump in a cold shower*


	43. Impossibilities

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **

The response for ch. 42 was awesome! Thanks to all you wonderful reviewers: **Flameshield, flamingmarsh, Fire Redhead, Sergeant Duck, blood-tempest, theshadowcat, Karategal, Bluebird Soaring, TransFlashbacks, jadedfalcon, Katanagirl16, Hearts of Eternity, plenoptic, CuteKittten, thepheonixqueen, night-walker98, Blume, vanillathunder215, iluvbee1990, **and** Lecidre.**

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**TO ALL MY READERS, NEW AND OLD**: I reached and surpassed 800 reviews! Thank you all so much! I am truly grateful to all of you and I look forward to each and every review that you are so kind to leave. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 42.

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma. **The characters are different in each of our stories, but the name is hers.

I never liked the summary for this story, so I changed it. I'm still not happy with it...They don't give us enough space for summaries.

This chapter is back to the present. Normal print is the present.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 43

Impossibilities

by Litahatchee

Chromia shot bolt upright, "Ironhide?"

Ratchet was beside her in an instant, his hands on her shoulders. He wasn't sure how she'd react when he took her out of recharge, but he figured she'd feel some residuals of Ironhide's presence.

"Just relax," Ratchet said.

She glanced at him before looking around the room. "He was here, wasn't he?" she said more than asked.

Ratchet ignored her statement, handing her a cube, "Here, drink this."

Chromia finally looked at him, somewhat surprised he wasn't just transferring the energy himself. She certainly wasn't going to complain one bit, but it was an interesting change.

Ratchet noticed her curiosity, but didn't say anything as she did what he asked and drank the energon. Too much kept coming up during his usual energy transfers, as of late, so he decided that using that method wasn't the best way for now. His recent experience with Chromia finding out his feelings for Nightfire suddenly gave him a new understanding for why his patients wanted to guard their memories and feelings from someone else. Even though eons had passed, Chromia was stirring too many memories that still felt raw and fresh. He preferred to keep them to himself. Since they had been inadvertently transmitted to her when he gave her the energy transfer, the best way to prevent that from happening again would be to stay away from her CPU. Once he had buried them again, he could go back to CPU energy transfers.

"What happened to your face?" Chromia's voice interrupted his thoughts as she opted not to question why he was letting her re-energize with a cube of energon. She already knew the answer. She understood why better than almost anybody.

Ratchet made a sound that could best be described as snorting before he harrumphed his way through the tools he had just finished using during the repair. He moved them to a cleaning station, completely ignoring her question. Chromia raised an optic ridge as he turned his back on her. Perhaps Ironhide really had been there...

"I think I can replace your spark casing," Ratchet said out of the blue, completely changing the subject.

Chromia's other optic ridge went up as a swallow of energon found its way into her vents in her surprise at what he had just said. She made a coughing noise as she tried to clear them. She knew it was a risky procedure for her and had thought that Ratchet had written off that possibility eons ago.

Ratchet returned to her side to make sure she wasn't about to choke off her vents with the energizing liquid, silently cursing himself for not just doing the energy transfer himself anyway.

"Isn't that risky?" she managed to croak out.

"Yes," he answered, "but I think your spark would be able to handle it after a few joinings. Your spark has healed fairly well over the vorns. You wouldn't be in pain anymore..."

A pain of his own suddenly erupted across his nose-plating as Chromia's fist made its mark. Ratchet jumped back, holding his face as energon began dripping from his olfactory sensors.

"S-slag!" he spluttered, cursing both Chromia and Ironhide. Things were never, _ever_, going to be peaceful with them around. Why on this human planet did he have to be stuck with _them_. Ratchet began rethinking his earlier comfort that he and Bumblebee would not be the last. "Primus! What the frag was _that_ for?!"

"That's for telling Ironhide that I'm in pain," Chromia spat. "What ever happened to patient confidentiality?"

"He is your sparkmate! He should have known all along. I'm amazed you've been able to hide it from him for this long," Ratchet exclaimed.

"Yea, well, it looks like he's been able to hide important things from me as well," Chromia retorted. "ALL of you have," she added rather viciously.

Ratchet paused and started to say something, knowing she was speaking of Bumblebee. They had already spoken about Bumblebee and she seemed just fine then. Her emotions were running high at the moment, however. An emotional being wasn't always a rational one, usually quite the contrary, actually.

Chromia interrupted him, "And don't start pandering to me about how he was the last youngling and needed to be protected. I know _all_ the consequences of _that_."

Ratchet opened his mouth to say something else...

Chromia interrupted him again, "So, now my sparkmate knows, no thanks to you. And now you're telling me you can replace the casing? Why didn't you just do that just now? You could have told me when I first got here. Ironhide never had to know how much it hurts me."

Ratchet gave her an incredulous look. He _had_tried to tell her, but that was before she hit him with the news that Bumblebee might have known Nightfire, and after he had already inadvertently informed Ironhide anyway.

"This is a decision you have to make together," he said, his voice sounding tired. "It's not a guarantee. It affects you both. You have got to stop hiding from each other."

"Don't lecture _me_ about hiding things from _him_," Chromia said, her voice sounding just as tired.

Ratchet threw his hands up in the air, "You are both impossible."

Chromia didn't say anything more. She sat in silence as Ratchet cleaned up his face, grumbling at her the entire time. She paid him no attention, the gravity of the spark casing replacement, both the risks and the benefits, and how it would affect both her and Ironhide, weighing on her mind.

"Have you told him?" Chromia finally asked.

Ratchet grumbled something about how Ironhide and Chromia were going to send him to The Matrix early, as he repaired a dented panel on his face.

Chromia's optics tracked to the floor as she felt remorse for lashing out at Ratchet the way she did. He had done a lot for them. She had never been blind to that fact, even though a lot of what he did angered her to the point of pure rage. Although, a lot of what _Ironhide_ did angered her to the point of pure rage...

"Thank you," she suddenly said.

Ratchet paused, turning towards her with a puzzled look on his face. "What?"

"Thank you," she repeated softly. "We never would have gotten this far without you. I want you to know that it's appreciated."

Ratchet didn't move for a long moment. He just stood there, not sure what to say. He couldn't remember the last time a patient had actually thanked him...and he never would have expected it from Chromia.

"I...well, just doing my job," Ratchet said after another moment.

Chromia got off the berth and walked over to him, placing a hand on his arm. "I'm glad you're here to do it," she said.

Ratchet placed his hand over hers and gave her a soft smile, despite the pain doing so caused him, all because of her and her fragging sparkmate. He sighed audibly. All the frustrations he had in trying to help them were worth it. Even them fighting him every step of the way was worth it. As much as they seemed to enjoy abusing him, he couldn't imagine his life without them in it. He realized he might regret that thought again in the near future, but right at that moment, with Chromia's soft touch and gratitude, he felt it was all worth the efforts.

"You're welcome," he said.

"Did you tell him?" Chromia asked again.

Ratchet looked puzzled again, having completely forgotten the line of conversation in his surprise of Chromia's appreciation.

"Ironhide," Chromia explained, "when he was here, did you tell him about the replacement?" She knew Ironhide had been there, even though Ratchet hadn't confirmed it for her. Neither Optimus nor Bumblebee, as far as she knew, would leave a dent like that on Ratchet's face.

Ratchet shook his head. "No," he said, finally confirming her suspicions. "But you can discuss it with him when you go find him."

"You're holding me to that, hugh?" she asked, remembering her promise to go find Ironhide after the weld replacement, as long as Ratchet didn't put her in terminal lock.

"You better believe it," he answered.

"I don't think a promise has to be kept under a bribe," she looked at him mischievously. Ratchet had, indeed, bribed her.

"Perhaps not, but you know the alternative," Ratchet said back, without missing a beat.

"Well, then, I guess I have no choice," Chromia said conversationally.

"Nope," Ratchet continued, "not if you don't want to be strapped to that berth while I go and get him myself."

Chromia dropped her hand to her side, "Well, then, I guess I better get going."

As Chromia turned to leave, Ratchet, ever the medic, gave her some parting instructions, "Uninterrupted, complete joinings, Chromia. It's also probably best that you two stay on the Ark."

Chromia smirked at him, "Gee, thanks for the advice." The dripping sarcasm couldn't be any thicker.

Ratchet smirked back, "We wouldn't want you to be burning anything else down."

The look of surprise on her face was totally worth it. There was no way that she and Ironhide would be able to keep that under wraps.

"The human told you?" she asked.

"He didn't have to. You could see the smoke from here," Ratchet was having way too much fun with it now, amusement in his voice. He didn't see the smoke, of course, but he enjoyed the look on her face as he made the joke. Will Lennox did tell him, of course. He called him during the fact, even. However, the barn was part of the negotiations with Optimus at the moment, so even if the human hadn't called him, they would all still know about it.

Chromia turned to leave again, ignoring his comment.

As Ratchet watched her, he could almost hear Nightfire's words:

_'We tried, Ratchet. We tried everything: force, coercion, the gentle approach... The only way they are going to get through it is together...'_

Chromia paused in the doorway and turned one last time to look at Ratchet. He didn't notice that she hadn't left, yet. She watched him as he sat down, staring at a tool next to his work station. She thought of his admitted love for Nightfire and the feelings that he had for the femme. It was an impossible love that could never be realized. She wondered what that was like. It was unfathomable. It made her thankful for what she had. Ratchet spent so much time helping others...Who was helping him?

Lost in her thoughts, Chromia didn't realize that Ratchet noticed she was still there. A wrench hit the doorfame next to her head. She jumped, letting out a small yelp.

"Go find him, Chromia. I won't miss next time," Ratchet threatened.

She was gone by the time he picked up the next wrench.

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	44. Without Second Thoughts

(posted June 19, 2009)

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters (such as Sunshadow) AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas (such as carrying), or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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**CREDITS: **The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma. **The Decepticon femme character with that name, however, is mine. All the ideas in this chapter, ch. 44, are mine.

**THANK YOU:** Thanks to **Hearts of Eternity** for looking over this. This was an incredibly, surprisingly, difficult chapter to write and I needed some reassurance before posting. Thank you so much, Hearts.

This is a moment many of you have been waiting for/wondering about. Please keep an open mind, though I doubt you'd still be reading if your mind wasn't open. Thank you for still being here!

This chapter is a flashback following the flashbacks in chapters 41 and 42_. Italics_ are a flashback.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 44

Without Second Thoughts

by Litahatchee

_Ratchet looked everywhere. He thought he knew everything that went on in his med bay, where everyone was, who had left and who had entered, but he couldn't find a trace of Nightfire anywhere. The victorious smirk that he had been carrying on his face over the fact that putting Chromia in terminal lock had worked was slowly turning into a frown of concern for Nightfire._

_He couldn't comm her. He had no link with her whatsoever. He made a mental note to be sure to establish one. He had a feeling about how she would feel about that, but he didn't have to ask her permission to make a link. He should have already done it. Everyone working in his med bay had a link with him. He required it of the Autobots. He should require it of her too. _

_Of course, he wasn't in the habit of working closely with a Decepticon, but this was a special case. Despite her best efforts to show otherwise and what she might think of herself, she wasn't a true Decepticon any longer anyway. As soon as the Decepticons betrayed her kind, she was no longer a Decepticon in their optics. He didn't really understand why she was holding on to their ideals, but she was a proud femme. He probably never would understand it._

_Ratchet commed Wheeljack, __**"Wheeljack, have you seen Nightfire?"**_

_**"I haven't, Ratchet," **__Wheeljack responded. __**"I've only seen her once since you got back and that was when she informed you of Ironhide's condition."**_

_When he had come back from his meeting, it was Nightfire who rushed right to him and told him that Ironhide had taken Chromia out of terminal lock while he was injured. It was such a rush to get to Ironhide and then get the mech revived that he couldn't recall much of her whereabouts after that. _

_Nightfire had not been there when he worked on getting Ironhide stabilized. He had asked Wheeljack where her location was even then. Ratchet was beginning to wonder if anyone had seen her since he got back at all._

_He commed First Aid, __**"Do you know where Nightfire is located?"**_

_First Aid responded immediately, __**"Unless she's with Chromia, I usually don't know where she is. She avoids me like rust."**_

_"Frag," Ratchet muttered to himself. He knew she wasn't with Chromia, as he had just __left Chromia with Ironhide._

_Ratchet stopped in his search to think. He thought about comming Optimus, but realized that she wouldn't be with him without Prowl having already informed Ratchet that she was. He briefly wondered if she had finally ventured out. She never left the med bay unless it was to see Optimus and that wasn't that common of an occurrence anyway, not to mention she was normally escorted by Ratchet...Then he realized that he hadn't looked in the one place where he'd caught her several times by herself; the morgue. He headed in that direction, somewhat disturbed that she would be spending so much time there. He wondered if, on some level, she felt that she belonged there. _

_Once Ratchet got to the morgue, he didn't see her there either. He was really concerned at that point and had no idea how he was going to find her without that link. Had she left them? Was she trying to go back to the Decepticons? Was her sparkshock finally taking its toll? Was she in pain? He hoped not. He just didn't know. She could have simply gone on a stroll for all he knew. If that was the case, he was going to brag about how his methods saved Chromia while he established that much-needed link. _

_Sighing audibly to himself with a smirk on his face, confident in the hope that his concerns were unfounded, Ratchet turned to leave. Before he was out the door, however, he heard a soft painful whimper from behind a shelf in the corner of the room. His spark lept into his throat. He didn't have to see her to already know that it was her. _

_Any and all thoughts of bragging completely melting away, Ratchet rushed towards the direction of the sound, shoving aside everything in his way. _

_Nightfire was on the floor, leaning against the wall with her arms wrapped around her chest, her knees pulled up against them in an obvious effort to comfort herself from the pain. Her frame was shaking uncontrollably. She didn't seem to notice that he was there at first, but then she made optic contact with him. Her optics were deathly dim._

_"Ra...tchet," her voice was barely above a whisper, his name catching in her weakened vocalizers, her tone pleading._

_Right at that moment, her optics blinked out and then lit up again, even dimmer than before._

_Afraid he was going to lose her right then and there, he went for her CPU without hesitation, without a second thought. Her hands jerked up as a reflex, but it didn't slow him down. He hardly had the connection established before he started transferring as much energy as the connection would allow._

_Her disrupter had completely shut down, but it didn't matter at that point since he could get any information he needed directly from her CPU. She had been trying to hide her deteriorating condition from him for orns. She no longer had the strength to keep up any firewalls, so she surrendered completely to him. She lacked the energy to even care that he would know her true condition, that he could know everything. She lacked the energy to even care who he was or what faction he was from. None of it mattered in the face of death._

_"It's okay," Ratchet tried to sooth her._

_He was immediately bombarded with her pain. It was overwhelming, so much so that he almost had to disconnect. Her mind was a maelstrom of torment. Her systems were screaming at her every joor, every breem, every astrosecond: 'He's gone!' There was a deep sense of disbelief that all this was happening to her. It wasn't that something like this wasn't a possibility in war, but her total disbelief in how her sparkmate was killed was completely overwhelming her, haunting her every waking moment. Ratchet wondered how she was able to even function at all with this torment. He could see the pain and anguish she was suffering orn after orn with the lost bond. The outer demeanor she kept up around them all was nothing but a mere facade. There wasn't a moment that went by where she wasn't in pain._

_Nightfire began drifting away and Ratchet scanned her systems while continually transferring energy. It wasn't working. It wasn't enough. Her body was failing her. She hadn't been in recharge for several orns, her systems no longer able to run the program. She was exhausted. She had also lost the ability to conduct her own heat, her core temperature having plummeted. Many of her systems were no longer functioning at all. Ratchet silently cursed himself for not making her drop that disruptor early on so that he could know what was wrong and try to fix it before she got this bad off._

_Nightfire's optics blinked out again and Ratchet pulled her up against him, his spark hitching in fear._

_"Nightfire?" he said, sending her a mag pulse to her tormented spark as he tried to warm her against his frame and transfer more energy. When she didn't respond, he raised his voice, "Nightfire!"_

_Her optics blinked back on again and she gave him an irritated expression, whispering slowly, exhaustedly, "You...don't have to yell...I'm...right...here."_

_"Good," Ratchet responded. "Then stay right here."_

_She didn't want to be pitied. She hated to be pitied. Ratchet wasn't guarding his thoughts and feelings and she didn't feel pity from him like she felt from both Optimus and Elita. She just felt a deep concern..._

_He sent her another mag pulse, saying, "You're going to be okay." _

_She could feel him trying to navigate through her failing systems, evaluating what she needed to survive right then and there and quickly reprogramming what he could, using codes that he accessed from her files. Several of her coding files were already corrupted, so he used his own codes to try and reboot her heating systems and re-regulate her intakes. It worked for her intakes, but not her heating systems._

_He expelled air in frustration. Things were shutting down faster than he could get them repaired and restarted, and it was quickly becoming apparent that the energy transfer through the CPU port wasn't enough. He could help her better if he were fully integrated with her, but that would mean a full interface._

_Without a second thought, Ratchet lifted her up and carried her to a recovery room. She didn't have to read his thoughts to know what he was about to do. _

_"Don't do it," she said hoarsely. "Just let me go."_

_Despite the fact that helping Optimus and Chromia gave her a sense of purpose and she had truly come to care for them, there wasn't an orn that went by where she didn't wish that that was the orn she'd finally be set free. That's why she hid her condition from the other medics. Each system failure meant that she was closer to joining her sparkmate in the Matrix, or the Pit, whatever the case may be. Yet, there was a sense of something that was undone...like she felt she hadn't done what she was there to do..._

_"Not yet," Ratchet said to her as he laid her down on a med berth. "Not until you do whatever it is you think you're here to do."_

_There was no need to argue with him. If putting Chromia in terminal lock was any indication, Nightfire knew he was going to do what he thought was necessary anyway. He did whatever it took to save lives, or prolong them in her case. It was his programming after all, though Nightfire always thought his extreme methods went far beyond what he was programmed for. At any rate, she didn't have the strength to argue with him anyway._

_Ratchet laid down next to her, pulling her shaking frame up against him, trying to cover as much surface area as possible to warm her. She hadn't stopped shaking and he was unsuccessful in preventing it. _

_"I...don't know...why...I'm here," she responded. _

_Nightfire still couldn't believe that she had pledged herself to the Prime. She now knew that he was a truly worthy being, but every moment with the Autobots still felt as surreal as ever. _

_Ratchet commed both Wheeljack and First Aid, __**"I am preparing to give Nightfire a full energy transfer. Wheeljack, you're in charge of the med bay until I recover."**_

_A full energy transfer required both the CPU interface and the frame interface. The medic would then transfer all of his energy through both connections to the bot in need. Doing so would leave the medic completely vulnerable, as he would be stripped of all available energy in his systems, except for what was in reserve. It was only done when the patient was actively dying. Usually another medic would have to be there to make sure that he had enough energy left in reserve in order to online himself again, but Ratchet was confident that Nightfire would know what to do._

_**"Come again?"**__ First Aid responded. __**"My comm may be fritzing; I think you just said you're doing a full energy dump."**_

_**"Repeat that?" **__Wheeljack responded at the same time. __**"I don't think my comm is working right. Did you just say that you're putting me in charge?"**_

_**"That's exactly what I said,"**__ Ratchet answered both of them and then immediately shut off his comm._

_Nightfire stared at him as he readied their interface panels. He was still connected to her CPU and was keeping her as calm as possible. She still lacked the energy to even care what he was doing anyway. _

_Not so long before, the thought of interfacing with an Autobot sickened and frightened her. Because of that, Ratchet did his best to ease any fears that she might still have, even though all he was getting from her was indifference towards what he was doing._

_"Do you...believe...in fate?" she asked weakly._

_Ratchet used the question as a distraction while he made the necessary connections between their interfacing units. _

_"No," he replied. "But Optimus does."_

_"That figures..." she said._

_Ratchet knitted his optic ridges in thought, "That Optimus believes in fate, or that I don't?"_

_A spike of pain traced through Nightfire's frame and she curled into him in agony. A full interface, an interface between both the CPU and the frame, wasn't just to perform a full energy transfer. Having a full interface, a medic could also use his own systems to control those of his patient's. If a patient was having a hard time running certain life or death functions, then the medic could run the programs for him/her during a full interface. _

_Ratchet went straight to the source of Nightfire's pain and blocked it from her CPU. The pain was causing her uncontrollable shaking, so blocking it was the only choice he had to hopefully help her relax. An intense, lonely sorrow was all that was left in its wake. Nightfire felt completely and utterly alone._

_"You're doing good," Ratchet soothed. "Everything's going to be fine."_

_He immediately started transferring the maximum amount of energy that she could handle. He had to do it in increments. Otherwise, he'd overload her systems and she'd end up expending energy instead of gaining it._

_Unable to speak any longer, Nightfire connected to Ratchet's CPU, completely surprising him._

_**"Stop saying that,"**__ she spoke clearly through the connection. __**"Nothing is ever going to be okay again."**_

_No words passed between them as Ratchet nodded his head. Not knowing what else to do and having no other comfort to offer her, he simply embraced her. For the first time since she lost Deluge, she finally broke down. Ratchet said nothing, holding her and allowing her to sorrow until she was so exhausted that her frame tried to go into involuntary recharge. _

_Her recharge program tried to click on several times, but her systems couldn't perform the function. Arranging her in a more comfortable position against him, Ratchet went in and ran the recharge program for her using his own systems. There was a slight trepidation on her part as he accessed the recharge programs. She watched his face as each of her systems began shutting down and Ratchet could feel her nervousness, but he also felt her gratitude. She would finally be able to recharge, but she would be wide open to him. He could access whatever he wanted, whether that be for pleasure or information. _

_Nightfire had never been so vulnerable in her entire life. She couldn't afford to be in the Decepticon faction. She knew all too well what they were capable of. Even though they were at war with the so called 'peace-loving' Autobots, she had no idea what an Autobot was capable of in this situation. However, she no longer had a choice._

_Ratchet continued to transfer energy as Nightfire finally succumbed to recharge. He tried not to access anything other than for repairs, but it was impossible to avoid her errant thoughts. He had been wondering if she truly held concern for her patients, or if it was all just in her programming. He now had the answer. _

_She cared. She actually cared. She cared deeply from the depths of her spark. She even hoped the best for them, even the ones that had been experiments in her past. Ratchet shuddered at that thought, pushing it away lest he see something he didn't want to see._

_More of her thoughts strayed through his processor. She held a deep concern for all her patients, even those that she felt were lost causes, the most prominent of which was Ironhide. She had grown to love Chromia and cherished the shaky friendship they had established. However, she didn't believe that Ironhide would ever be able to help Chromia like a sparkmate should, though Nightfire hoped that he would prove her wrong, if he didn't kill her first. Of course, she wanted to die, but she wanted it to be because of the lost bond, not because she was too weak to defend herself from a crazed Autobot._

_Her presence didn't feel anything like a Decepticon, nor did she possess any Autobot thinking. She didn't fit the Neutral ideals either, as she believed in causes and believed in fighting for them. She was just...Nightfire. Ratchet found himself falling for her, despite the fact that he knew that she could never love him. _

_As Ratchet continued to drain himself of his energy, he rested his head next to Nightfire's. As her energy levels rose, he became more and more confident that she was going to live for a little while longer. Her spark was not anywhere near optimal performance, but without a spark bond there was little he could do about it. He did the only thing he could do; he placed his hand on her chest and gave her a light magnetic pulse. Gazing upon her until he could no longer keep his optics open, he finally succumbed to involuntary recharge himself. _

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_Nightfire came out of recharge with a start. She was disoriented. Someone's hand rested on her chest and she could feel the air from his vents near her audio. The weight of the hand felt nice. The first thing she realized after that was that she was not in pain. Yet, she knew she wasn't waking from a nightmare and that this wasn't her sparkmate, as the intense lonely void of losing Deluge was still an abyss in her spark. Taking air into her own vents, she turned her head to look at whoever it was. _

_It was Ratchet. The events of the previous cycle hit her processor all at once...Ratchet finding her and, doing nothing less than what would be expected of any medic, helping her. Her pump raced at the manner of which he gave that help, but she knew that he had no choice. She would have died if he hadn't established a full interface. She wasn't sure if she was grateful or not. She would rather be dead, but she did feel better after having been able to get some sleep, and the fact that he was blocking the pain was a welcome change._

_Still fully connected, she could feel traces of his spark through the connection. Without a spark bond, she would never be able to feel his spark fully, but she could catch a sense of it through a full interface such as the one they had. His spark was so different from her sparkmate's, yet strangely comforting. _

_Nightfire's next alarming thought was what he might have accessed while she was in such a vulnerable state. She had been entirely too weak to block anything from him. She quickly ran a systems check to see what all he'd done. What she found completely surprised her._

_Other than what he needed to help repair her failing systems, he didn't access anything at all. He didn't try to find any useful information that could be used against the Decepticons. He didn't look at one memory. All he got was what couldn't be avoided, since thoughts always drifted through interface connections. He hadn't even taken advantage of her. Not one line of pleasure code had been touched. _

_Nightfire wasn't sure whether to be surprised or not. Most Decepticons she knew would have jumped at the chance. A Con would have helped her, but he would have taken what he wanted for his trouble. Maybe Autobots were more honorable, maybe they weren't, but she didn't feel at all as violated as she thought she'd feel while interfacing with one._

_Of course, having been a Decepticon, she didn't feel compelled, as Ratchet obviously did, not to sneak a peak at a few things. She didn't like the idea of someone snooping around her files, but she wasn't against doing it herself. Like she said to Chromia, she never said she wasn't a hypocrite._

_Nightfire just wanted to get a sense of who Ratchet truly was, of his character. She would respect his memories and leave them alone, just as he had done for her, though the temptation was undeniable..._

_She accessed a directory on his characterization. Ratchet held a deep seeded love for every Autobot. He became attached to them, breaking every emotional rule of being a medic. One had to be detached from his/her patients. Sometimes that was the only way to be able to move on if they died. However, she had become attached to patients as well, so she understood. He was even attached to some Cons he knew from before the war. If he ever saw them wounded on the battlefield, he would help them. _

_Ratchet possessed a deep sense that he could improve or prolong Cybertronian lives immeasurably. All they needed to do was just listen to him and follow his instructions exactly. Therein lied the source of his problems, as nobody ever listens to their medic. That's why he was so rough with his patients. He had ways to make them listen, or, in the very least, make them __**wish**__ they had listened._

_Ratchet was good at what he did and he knew it. He also possessed a gentle spark that few rarely saw. To his patients, he seemed detached from them, but it was all just a facade that hid his true compassionate nature. He had just the right amount of balance between doing whatever it took to save someone as a function of his programming, even if the method was extreme and could possibly kill the patient, and caring about that being while he did it._

_If Nightfire had never bonded, she was certain that she could have come to love this mech. She found that she was comfortable in that admission to herself. She truly loved and held dearly to Deluge, but he was now gone, through events that neither one of them had any control over. She would never dishonor his memory and she would lose her life because of his loss, but she knew, without a doubt, that if circumstances presented themselves, he would not want her to be forced to die alone. None of this was what she ever wanted, but this was where she was and she never imagined that she would find herself falling for an Autobot. She could no longer love, as all her love was for Deluge. Because she bonded with him, she was actually incapable of loving another. However, she could like another being, for as long and as far as her spark would allow it._

_She couldn't remember a time when she had been so fully integrated with a mech. Sparkbonding was different, as one lost all individuality during a merge of that magnitude, but if there was a next best thing, then this could be it..._

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_Ratchet felt...warm. It was a soothing warmth that permeated his entire being. He knew he was recovering from an energy dump, but he never felt this good after having done so before. In fact, he didn't recall ever feeling good at all after a full energy transfer. _

_He drew the source of the warmth closer to his frame. He felt warm, caressing, digits on his faceplates. _

_"Ratchet, you fool," he heard a voice say to him. It was cold, biting even, but the coldness of the voice did not reflect the warmth of the presence within it._

_The warm presence had a warm frame and he pulled it ever closer to himself, sighing softly, contentedly, as an audio brushed across his mouthplates. _

_"You comfortable?" the voice asked next, a twinge of sarcasm behind it._

_Ratchet's optics snapped open in a moment of recognition, his disorientation dissolving in a rush of sobriety as soon as he realized who the voice belonged to and what he was doing. _

_He released her immediately. "Primus," he chastised himself before saying, "Nightfire, I'm sorry."_

_He made a motion to sit up and then realized that they were still attached, dizziness threatening him as he hadn't fully recovered from the transfer. _

_"It's okay," Nightfire assured. "Lay back down. You're going to offline yourself."_

_Extreme embarrasment for snuggling against her so shamelessly poured through the connection. _

_Nightfire raised her optic ridges at him, "Don't be so embarrassed. I was feeding the feeling." _

_A mischievous smile graced her mouthplates. She had accessed a pleasure center to make him feel nice and warm when he woke up._

_"You were what?" Ratchet wasn't sure whether to be ecstatic that the full interface and __energy transfer helped her or angry for the violation._

_He immediately disconnected from her CPU to keep any thoughts away from her. _

_"Damn you and your Autobot honor," she snapped, her CPU connection to him coming free as well as he pulled away from her._

_"It's not about honor, Nightfire," Ratchet replied. "It's about trust."_

_They glared at each other for a long moment. She didn't regret making him feel good, and he found that he didn't really regret it either. He just didn't know how to handle these feelings he was having towards her...towards a bonded femme. Sure, her sparkmate was dead, but she was still bonded. He knew what she couldn't give him._

_A spasm wracked her systems and she winced as the pain spiked beyond what Ratchet was capable of blocking. The medic in him kicked in again and he pulled her towards him; scanning, anaylyzing, searching... Once he had it, Nightfire could feel him going to the source to stop it._

_"Better?" he asked, once her shaking subsided._

_She simply nodded her head, watching him as he struggled with his emotions. He was afraid of losing her, yet he knew the inevitable._

_As soon as he was sure that she was stable and he had recovered enough not to feel dizzy every time he sat up, he went to disconnect their interfacing units._

_"I should go check on Ironhide and Chromia," he said softly, though, through the connection, Nightfire knew it was just an excuse._

_She quickly clapped her hand over their connection, effectively keeping him from breaking it._

_"No, wait," she nearly pleaded, quickly stamping down a slight sense of panic._

_It was too late, though, as they were too integrated for Ratchet not to catch it. She really needed to feel someone close, to have someone to lay with, someone to interface with. She needed some assurance that she wasn't alone, just to have someone to be there with her, on the inside and outside of her being._

_"Please stay," she said, a bit more composed this time. "Just for a little while. I would," she hesitated, "really like the company."_

_Ratchet nodded his head, leaving the connection as he pulled her hand to his chest. Laying back down next to her, he didn't say anything as he pulled her into his arms and just held her. _

_Nightfire wasn't alone. She wouldn't be alone again for as long as she lived._

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	45. As Long As There Is Hope Part I

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Thanks a million to the awesome reviewers of chapter 44: **Violetlight**, **Lecidre**, **Crystal Dragon Claw**, **Karategal**, **1bloodtempest**, **Xerios**, **Katanagirl16**, **CuteKittten**, **Bluebird Soaring**, **jadedfalcon**, **vanillathunder215**, **TransFlashbacks**, **theshadowcat, Flameshield, xCubicZirconia, **and **flamingmarsh.**

Responses to reviews for for ch. 44 have been moved to 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' on my biopage.

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

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**Disclaimer**: see ch. 44.

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. I got the idea of the med bay being hidden from leggypoo. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma. **The characters are different, but the name is hers.

This is a fairly sizable chapter! We had a wonderful vacation and now I'm back to writing. Have you all seen ROTF yet? Well, I guess this story is now officially going away from the movieverse. I hope you all will still be interested in it, even though it is now considered AU. There is a lot more of it to tell. The characters are still the movieverse characters, of course, but I will make a note about Jetfire. The Jetfire in this story is not the ROTF Jetfire (I liked that characterization, but it doesn't fit for the story here). I guess he's more of the G1 characterization, what he could have been before he defected and why.

This chapter starts in the present, but moves to flashbacks following ch. 44. The present is normal tense. _Italics_ are flashbacks.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 45

As Long As There Is Hope: Part I

by Litahatchee

Optimus's optics snapped open as he was pulled out of recharge by a painful disturbance in his spark. Something was wrong. He sat up, his hand coming to rest on his chest, pausing as if he was listening to something...

And then it hit him. Agony pierced through his spark, through his frame, through his mind, through his entire being until he fell back, the pain so great that his vocalizer froze up and he couldn't even cry out.

Then, just like that, the pain subsided. However, what was left in its wake frightened him more than any battle he'd ever been faced with. It was...emptiness...a void so vast that it couldn't be described. As soon as he was able, he crawled out from under his temporary shelter to look up at the stars.

Optimus had taken up Ironhide's duties in Ironhide's absence and, like Ironhide, had opted not to stay in the underground military installation. Something about that place seemed very...limiting. He wanted to be able to recharge under the stars. He didn't want to be cooped up in some cement, thick-walled, facility. Truth be told, it was more than just a desire. He was also being cautious. He trusted William Lennox and simply felt more comfortable staying at the Lennox ranch.

There wasn't a good place to hide without the barn, but they built a smaller makeshift shed for him. He couldn't stand in it, nor transform in it, but it kept him out of the weather. He found that he could transform outside of it late at night, when no passersby would be awake to see him, and could crawl back in and lay down. Being in his truck form all the time made him feel cramped and stiff, so it was nice to be able to stretch out at least that much.

Unconcerned that anyone would see him at the late human hour, Optimus stood up and looked up at the stars.

"Elita," he whispered, as if just the utterance of her name would allow her to materialize right in front of him, the void in his spark having him fearing the worst.

His only comfort was that he had felt this once before...

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_Optimus's optics snapped open as he felt Elita's presence push at him in his spark. She had been fading in and out over the last few orns, confusing him, but causing him to never lose hope. She was still alive, and that's what mattered. Each time he could feel her again, he grasped on to her as if it would be the last time. She had stopped communicating with him altogether through their link. He believed that whoever this Jetfire was had found a way to stop that, but that he hadn't found a way to keep her out of their bond completely. _

_This time, he felt a large sense of urgency from her. It seemed like she was trying to warn him of something...of an attack...and something very strongly about Nightfire...Then there was a repeated thought. It was, "CMO...CMO...CMO..." and then she was gone again, leaving Optimus to puzzle together what might be going on._

_Optimus sat up on his recharge berth, trying to reach out to Elita and keep her hopes alive. All they had was hope and he was never giving it up. After a few more moments, he opened his comm line to Prowl._

_**"Prowl, I think the Decepticons are getting ready to attack,"**__ he said._

_**"Everything is looking just fine, Optimus. There's nothing showing on the radars and none of our spies have reported any possibility of an attack," **__Prowl responded, thinking the attack would be on Iacon itself._

_**"No, this is coming from Elita," **__Optimus said._

_Prowl paused for a moment. __**"Forgive me, sir, but I thought you lost contact with Elita One."**_

_Optimus didn't take any offense to Prowl's questioning. It wasn't that he was questioning the validity of what Optimus was telling him. It was just that his logical processor was trying to compute it._

_**"I cannot communicate with her through our link, but she's still in the bond. She just tried to warn me of something to come and it seemed like it might be an attack," **__Optimus paused, __**"and there was something about Nightfire..."**_

_**"Nightfire?" **__Prowl asked. __**"Perhaps it is what I have been concerned about all along. Nightfire may be a spy and has called an attack on us."**_

_Prowl could almost hear Optimus's laugh of derision on the other end. __**"She's not a spy, Prowl," **__he said, __**"I'll try to assure you again; she can be trusted."**_

_**"Forgive me if I'm not as optimistic," **__Prowl replied._

_Optimus sat and thought for a moment. Why would Elita be thinking 'CMO?' He caught that it was something about Nightfire very clearly and Nightfire had been the CMO of Floatilla, but why would she send that repeatedly? And if there was going to be an attack, it wouldn't be Floatilla again. He thought about it from Prowl's point of view. If he hadn't seen her mind and didn't already know that she wasn't a spy, where would she call for an attack? He just assumed that the attack would be on the city of Iacon itself, or, in the very least, on Iacon Command, which would include __**him**__._

_Elita didn't seem like she felt any betrayal towards Nightfire, just concern. Come to think of it, Elita felt betrayal towards herself. There were so many things that she felt she had betrayed the Autobots for, but Optimus didn't blame her at all. None of the Autobots did. Everything the Decepticons learned had been taken by force. It was beyond her control. Optimus shuttered his optics, his intakes shaking in his inability to prevent what she had had to endure, what she continued to endure. _

_He forced himself to replay her warning, to analyze every byte of information it held, from the warning itself to the feeling of the being behind it. She felt guilty...which meant that something else had been taken from her mind. Something else had been found out. It was something that caused her to feel concern for Nightfire, as if Nightfire was the one in danger...and one other. Optimus latched onto that thought, picking it apart layer by layer until he finally got a sense of exactly who that was. It was Chromia... Chromia? _

_Nightfire and Chromia...Chromia and Nightfire...What did they have in common? Optimus didn't know. They were both at Floatilla. They were both spark-bonded to someone...Nightfire's mate was dead, but Chromia's wasn't, though Optimus wasn't sure how long that would last if Ironhide didn't reign in his fury._

_'CMO...CMO...CMO...' replayed through his processor._

_Optimus shook his head on that one. Nightfire was a CMO, but what did Chromia have to do with it? They were both in the med bay at the moment..._

_Optimus's pump lept to his throat. CMO...She was eluding to Ratchet! Nightfire and Chromia were in Ratchet's med bay. The location of every major medical facility was kept a secret in order to protect the wounded from surprise attacks, and Ratchet's was no exception. If anything, his med bay had the most well hidden location of any faction's med facility that existed...a location that every Autobot would know, but only the higher command would have any access codes...access codes that Elita One would have..._

_Thinking about it from his brother's point of view, Nightfire was a liability to the Decepticons and with that little stunt she pulled with taunting Megatron through Optimus, Megatron knew she was alive and with the Autobots. She had already provided them with information on Trypticon. She had given Elita One an edge to work with. Megatron would only gain by getting rid of her. She was a CMO, so it stood to reason that she'd be helping the Autobot CMO in the med facility. _

_Then there was Chromia: sparkmate to Ironhide. A bonded pair that Megatron had been trying to get rid of for vorns. He dealt them a major blow, but Ironhide still showed up to cause him trouble. However, it's obvious that Chromia wasn't with him, when, in the past, she had always been with him. Therefore, Megatron would assume that she was still in the med bay, recovering. He could be rid of this bonded pair once and for all if he targeted her at her moment of weakness...and both her and Nightfire would be located in the same medical facility with the Autobot CMO: Ratchet._

_Optimus immediately tried to comm Ratchet, but Ratchet, strangely, was not answering. Optimus realized his comm wasn't even on, which was even stranger and, in light of the situation, cause for alarm._

_Optimus comm'ed Prowl again, "Prowl, I believe the Decepticons are attacking the med bay..."_

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_Ratchet briefly thought about turning his comm back on to let Wheeljack and First Aid know that he was recovering well from the energy transfer, but Nightfire had his full attention..._

_She had reconnected to his CPU and was sharing memories of her time at Floatilla, but it was her fingers that had him so distracted. She was lightly tracing over the top of his hand, tracing over each of his fingers in turn until she came to the last one, and then she'd start all over again. Ratchet wasn't sure if she realized she was doing it, but each light trace of a finger caused him to close off more and more of his CPU to her. It wasn't helping him to control his growing feelings for her and he didn't want her to know them._

_Feeling his retreat, Nightfire's fingers stopped. "You don't have to hide from me."_

_"I'm not hiding from you," Ratchet protested, knowing full well that she already knew he was._

_She raised an optic ridge at him, but didn't push the issue. "Suit yourself," she said instead._

_She turned his hand over to touch his palm. She seemed to be exploring him, from the inside and out. Ratchet closed his palm and moved his hand away from hers._

_"He was looking for me the entire time," she said next._

_"What?" Ratchet became confused, unsure of what she suddenly seemed to just pull out of thin air._

_"You're wondering what Deluge had to do with Floatilla," she answered._

_Suddenly uncomfortable, Ratchet looked away. He couldn't deny her statement. He had been wondering that, and she was currently interfaced to him, so there would be no way to hide everything._

_Despite his discomfort, Nightfire continued to explain it as she knew it, "I don't know what he had to do with it. I'm afraid of the answer to that question. But, I know he didn't kill anybody."_

_Ratchet's optics snapped back to hers, suspicion that he could not hide from her making its way through the link._

_"But he was there," he said after a long, uncomfortable, moment._

_It was Nightfire's turn to look away, "He was...I can't make any excuses for him, but he didn't kill anybody." She looked back at him. "I think he was there because of me. He contacted me at the start of the orn and told me I need to leave the city. He wanted to meet me in Simfur that evening. I didn't listen to him. I was helping a femme by the name of MoonRacer adjust to her new sparkling. I couldn't just up and leave. As soon as the attack started, I called him to see what the Pit was going on. He panicked. He said he was near Iacon and that he was on his way. He spent the whole time looking for me. It was such chaos that we never could find each other." She paused as her sorrow threatened to overwhelm her again._

_Ratchet squeezed her hand, "You don't have to tell me this. Whatever his involvement; it doesn't matter now."_

_"But he was my sparkmate, and I refuse to believe that he was killing helpless younglings." She paused again. "He's gone, Ratchet. My only comfort is that he wasn't supposed to be at Floatilla and that he didn't go there until he found out that I hadn't left yet...I think he was with the team that was going after the AllSpark."_

_Ratchet suddenly felt bad for his suspicions of the mech. The mech was still a Con and going after the AllSpark was still a bad thing, but he understood Nightfire's plight. She didn't know for sure what Deluge was doing and needed to rationalize things for her own sanity. This femme was despairing on so many levels...Her faith in her faction was shattered, her beliefs shaken, her sparkmate involved somehow in the gendercide of their race, and it haunted her beyond imagining. Whatever his involvement, though, he was then brutally murdered in front of her by someone they both had believed in, and now she was dying because of it. _

_Ratchet grabbed her hand, "Let's not dwell on the bad stuff and not worry about what we don't know. Tell me something good about him. How about some happy memories." He attempted to smile and then tried to lighten the mood through their connection._

_Nightfire nodded her head and attempted to smile back. "Okay," she whispered as she became delighted that Ratchet cared. She opened several files of the good times with Deluge and started sharing them with him._

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_Ironhide concentrated on the sound of her intakes, the pulse of her spark, the feel of her frame against his..._

_His optic ridges knitted as he thought about what Ratchet had said at some point. What did he say about who should be waking up first? If he had woken up first, then did that mean that Chromia potentially didn't get all the energy she needed? _

_"Frag," he sighed to himself in resignation._

_"We just had our first amazing moment together in Primus knows how long, and that's what you have to say about it?" Chromia's voiced mocked him._

_He unshuttered his optics to find her looking at him. She was smiling and his expression softened as a slight smile of his own formed._

_"I thought you were still in recharge," he said._

_"I've been watching __**you **__recharge for the last few joors," she retorted, cupping his face in her hands as she rested her forehead against his. _

_His smile broadened as he pulled her into an embrace and her spark reciprocated his love as they resonated together. His presence within her spark gripped her tighter at the same time as he embraced her fully. He was assuring her, but he wasn't sure if he had the strength to assure himself. No matter what it was, he always considered her stronger than himself. She was his strength. Even in her moment of weakness and uncertainty, she was his strength. She wasn't as weak or as uncertain as he was at their moment of need. However, he didn't want to talk about it, nor did he want to alert her to that fact. It didn't matter at that particular moment. What mattered was her and her alone. Whatever strength he needed, he would gather from her presence from then on out. What he didn't know was that she felt the same way about him, that she always thought that he was stronger than her, and that she was getting strength from his presence._

_There was one thing he knew for sure. She wasn't dying before him or without him...as long as he could help it._

_He nuzzled her neck, his spark rejoicing that they had joined without being reminded of everything they'd lost. It worked. They had figured out a way to enjoy spark bonding again. All they needed to do was push everything out of their minds but each other. Yet, he felt bound somehow...like they weren't free to move about their universe when they were trying to close off certain parts of it, when they were closed to it themselves. It didn't feel right. However, they __**had **__joined and it was nice and, while Sunshadow's death would always haunt them, they now knew how to keep it from overtaking them while joined._

_Not every merge would be so successful, as they couldn't control their grief every time, but they tried. They had to. Otherwise, they'd be back to Ratchet figuring out ways to make them. _

_They would spend the next countless vorns avoiding Sunshadow's death...ignoring it, pretending it never happened. They would spend countless breems, joors, and orns in private anguish over it. Sometimes it would be orns before each one could have a short respite from his/her personal hell. They found comfort in each other, but rarely comforted each other for it. They kept it to themselves for the most part, each one doing what he/she had to do to press on, whether that be to delete something, or just bury it even deeper._

_He rubbed his cheek plating against hers as he pulled her underneath him, relaxing his full weight over her while his spark aligned itself with hers over her chestplating. _

_"Hide," she said after a moment of relishing his affections, "you're..."_

_"Making your spark flutter," he interrupted, finishing the sentence for her._

_She let out a laugh. "Well, yes, that too," she conceded before saying what she was going to say originally, "You're crushing me."_

_His mouthplates traced over her audio. "Uh huh," he agreed._

_He wasn't giving her any room to resist him. She could feel his chestplates parting to receive her spark and a wave of passion washed through her entire being. It was coming from him and she was about to answer in kind when some of the pressure lifted and he just looked at her._

_Chromia didn't know what he was thinking, but Ironhide felt that something was missing. He wondered if she still had the desire to fight. He couldn't imagine her any other way, but the question nagged at him. Could she still fight? Sure, judging by the previous evening, she could still fight __**him**__, but could she still fight __**with**__ him, __**alongside **__him? Did she even want to anymore? _

_"What?" she demanded irritably, a little too harshly, but only because she was unnerved by his stare._

_He wasn't about to broach the subject with her. It would only drive her away from him, making her feel that he might have lost something for her. He was afraid of what the answer might be, for either one of them. He could accept that they were both changed. It was understandable. His question was; how much? _

_The bottom line was that he loved her immensely. No amount of change in her or himself could change that. He sent all his love to her through the bond and she relaxed._

_There was a definite change in himself that he knew she could help him with, as she had already received help for it herself. Even though he had just joined with her and that had helped tremendously, the pain of his sparkshock was still insidiously pulsing at the edges of his spark. He had been so against it before, he didn't really know how to ask her. But, maybe if she relieved some of the shock before they joined again, he'd feel much better._

_"Could you do that mag pulse thing on me?" he asked quietly, almost ashamed._

_Amusement came at him from her side of the bond. He released her and sat up, irritation of her amusement at his expense dulling his desire to lay with her any longer. She had the audacity to laugh at his reaction._

_"What?" he snapped, his turn to demand. _

_She sat up and placed a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off, looking away from her. She scooted up behind him until her chest was touching his back. She whispered in his audio, "Primus, I love it when you're angry."_

_The proximity of her spark took some of the edge off and he relaxed even more when she enveloped him with warm feelings._

_"Nightfire said that you would ask eventually, so she showed me a way that sparkmates can do this," Chromia explained why she was so amused. Ironhide was so predictable that even Nightfire picked up on it. He would protest and protest something so forcefully, but later give in._

_They were still on the floor from their previous joining and Chromia was having a hard time holding up his weight the more he relaxed against her, so she prompted him to scoot back with her until she could lean against the wall. He sat between her legs and leaned his back against her chest. _

_"You're not going to tell her I actually asked, are you?" he asked. Chromia noticed that Ironhide never actually said her name, always referring to Nightfire as 'her,' or some expletive._

_"Well, that depends," she teased him._

_Ironhide turned his head to glare at her and she surprised him by placing her mouthplates over his. He reached around to cup her face and gain a little better access to her mouth. She broke away when her temperature started to rise. _

_"Mag pulse therapy," she reminded him._

_She sat up as straight as she could against the wall and prompted him to lean back and down until his spark was aligned with hers. She then reached around him to place her right hand on his chassis over his spark. He rested his head over her shoulder against the wall, rolling it to partially rest against her own head. She leaned into him and then sent a small magnetic pulse to his spark from her hand against his chest at the same time as she sent soothing feelings to his spark from her own spark from behind. The relief was immediate. She started a rhythm of pulses as her spark washed completely over him. Ironhide could feel the burn from his sparkshock dispersing until the only thing his spark was aware of was her own. In fact, his spark became so attuned to hers that the pulses were decidedly becoming pleasurable._

_Ironhide leaned his head further into hers, nuzzling her contentedly as he began rubbing her leg. Her left hand snaked around him from the other side and she pressed it against his interface port. Taken completely by surprise, he jumped up, the last pulse shocking him almost senseless since he was no longer relaxed._

_"I doubt that crazy Con said that was part of it!" he exclaimed in surprise, trying to shake the shock from his senses, not at all comfortable with receiving attention there when Chromia's was missing. _

_Chromia smirked at him, "You never know what can happen in the heat of the moment."_

_Ironhide glanced down at her scar and she looked away. She just wanted some normalcy back into their relationship. He was still intact in every way and to ignore that was too much of a reminder of what she could no longer do. He felt the opposite. Her touching him there reminded him too much of what she was missing. It was still too soon._

_He placed his hand on her chassis over her spark, "Let's concentrate on this."_

_She was about to say something when, suddenly, they heard explosions outside. The ground shook and the ceiling dusted them with debris. At that moment, Ironhide saw fear in Chromia's optics and his spark sank with worry. _

_"They don't know where the med bay is," she said, though he couldn't quite tell if she was assuring herself or assuring him, or both._

_Ironhide took it as more of a hopeful statement than a certainty. The Cons weren't supposed to know where the med bay was, but as the explosions sounded like they were drawing closer, his suspicion turned to Nightfire. Who was to say that she didn't inform them while both he and Chromia were in the med bay together, in a time of weakness, when they could easily be taken out?_

_Ironhide jumped off the floor. "Fragging glitch Con! I'm going to kill her once and for all!"_

_Without further explanation, he ran out the door. More debris fell from the ceiling as an explosion even closer than before rocked the facility. Her fear quickly becoming a vengeful fury, Chromia stealed herself to run after him. This was __**her**__ chance to get some of them back...and she wasn't going down without a fight..._

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	46. As Long As There Is Hope Part II

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Thanks a trillion to the awesome reviewers of chapter 45: **Peeka-chan, Blume, Katanagirl16, kb, 1bloodtempest, Lecidre, Xerios, CuteKittten, theshadowcat, vanillathunder215, night-walker98, flamingmarsh, Bluebird Soaring, LeggyPoo, **and **Flameshield.**

Responses to reviews for ch. 45 have been moved to 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' on my biopage.

**To all my reviewers, past and present**: I have 884 reviews! So close to 900! I can't believe it! Thanks to each and every one of you for making this possible.

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

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Total visiting countries for **July**: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, Turkey, Estonia, Germany, Finland, Indonesia, France, Argentina, Austria, Taiwan, Malaysia, Ireland, Philippines, South Korea, Italy, Peru, Brazil, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, New Zealand, Denmark, South Africa, Chile, Hong King, and Trinidad. Wow, that's simply amazing.

**Disclaimer**: All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow and the Decepticon Nightfire belong to Litahatchee/ Letohatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. I got the idea of the med bay being hidden from leggypoo. And another thank you to leggypoo for leaving 11 reviews at one time! I'll just go ahead and say it again; you are awesome. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma. **The characters are different in each of our stories, but the name is hers.

I want to thank **Hearts of Eternity** for all her help and support over the year. She and I discussed the last 4 or 5 chapters in depth months and months ago, some of it last summer, even. She helped me tremendously through the brainstorming of these chapters and those efforts are finally coming to fruition. Thank you so much, Hearts, for listening to me babble on end about who goes where and what happens when, giving me suggestions when it seems I can't quite get it together, and for waiting for nail-biting months until I can finally get to those events into the story. You are the absolute best!

Note: I changed the chapter title on ch. 45, which carries over into this chapter, and the next. The other title was probably too confusing. I think this title fits better.

Here's a nice (well, maybe 'nice' isn't the word to describe the content) long chapter for you guys *smile* Prepare yourselves; there's a lot going on in this one. There are a lot of point of view changes in this chapter that had to be done. I tried to break it up a little at a crucial point, so I hope it makes sense. This chapter is a flashback following that of ch. 45. _Italics_ are flashbacks. **_Bold_** print is comm. transmissions.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 46

As Long As There Is Hope: Part II

by Litahatchee

_Ratchet and Nightfire had fallen into a companionable silence, both within and without. Ratchet was still recovering from the energy transfer and he kept drifting in and out of recharge. He refused any energy from her. It was pointless for her to do that since she was the one that needed it in the first place. He also did not want to contact either Wheeljack or First Aid to just bring him an energon cube. He didn't give a reason, but she knew it was because he wanted to enjoy her company for a little while longer. He had no pressing needs to get back to in the med bay._

_So, Nightfire kept silent watch over him. She had already located his link with Wheeljack and could easily tap right into it if an emergency arose. Ratchet had his comm turned off, but she could easily remedy that to comm the other mech in an instant. Thus far, though, Ratchet was doing just fine on his own. He just needed a little more recharge time than usual._

_As Ratchet recharged, Nightfire's mind began dwelling on certain things. She felt a lot better since Ratchet blocked her pain, but she didn't feel right about it somehow. She felt guilty. She felt she needed that pain. It was a punishment she felt she had to bear for all the wrongdoings she had done, for all the wrongdoings her faction had done, even as misguided as many of them were. She needed it as a reminder, as a motivation and a reason to help others. She would ask Ratchet to unblock it when he woke up again._

_"No one should have to endure that much pain," Ratchet's voice permeated her thoughts._

_She visibly jumped. She thought he was recharging._

_"Okay, we should end this now," she practically growled, glaring at him._

_The interface was becoming too intrusive for her liking, though she knew Ratchet didn't mean to intrude. It was her own fault for letting such thoughts drift to the forefront of her mind. She went to disconnect but Ratchet stopped her. She started to fight him, but gave up, blowing air out of her vents in frustration._

_"Before you go, I need you to unblock it," she said indignantly, ignoring the fact that he was the one that just stopped her from disconnecting and acting like it was all his idea to do so in the first place._

_If her request hadn't been so serious, he would have smiled at her efforts to turn things around on him._

_"Whatever it is you think about yourself, you are not one of **them**," Ratchet said, speaking of the Decepticons. He was not going to remove the block for any reason, but he didn't want her to feel guilty either._

_"Your pathetic attempts to turn me into an Autobot are not going to work," she snapped._

_Ratchet did laugh this time. "I'm not trying to turn you into an Autobot. All I'm saying is that **no one** should have to live with that much pain."_

_She could tell that Ratchet wasn't about to lift the block. "I need it as a reminder," she tried._

_"You have enough reminders without having to deal with that too," he said softly. He tried to calm her thoughts through the connection and reached out to caress her face._

_Through their interface, he had seen her private moments where she shook and struggled until she could get herself into recharge, at least until it wasn't possible anymore. He knew how much pain she was in. He also knew he couldn't always block all of it. She would get her reminder whether she wanted it or not. He was determined, however, to help her in every way he could. He would help her into recharge whenever she needed and he would keep the pain at bay for as far and as long as it was possible. Whether or not she wanted his help didn't matter. He was going to do whatever he could for her and that was that._

_Nightfire could see his intentions in his optics and she could read them through the interface. She opened her mouth to say something when, suddenly, the ground shook beneath them. The lights in the ceiling blinked on and off..._

_Nightfire froze, as did Ratchet._

_"It's an attack," Nightfire needlessly whispered._

_Ratchet could feel her rising fear through the interface, a need rising within him to calm her._

_"They don't know where the med bay is," he said._

_Several more explosions rocked the facility, each one decidedly closer than the other._

_"Are you sure about that?" she asked._

_A much larger explosion sounded in their audios as pieces of the ceiling collapsed to the floor. Ratchet reacted in an instant, disconnecting from her and jumping off the med berth without a word. He headed straight for the exit, dragging her alongside him. He opened his comm and all chaos broke lose._

_**"Ratchet!" **Wheeljack shouted into the comm, **"We're under attack! Where are you?!"**_

_Ratchet immediately tried to contact Optimus Prime, but communications outside of the facility didn't seem to be working._

_"Frag," he said to himself._

_**"I'm in Bay 12," **he commed back to Wheeljack. **"Start evacuating the patients using Emergency Evacuation Plan C," **Ratchet ordered._

_**"First Aid is already on it," **Wheeljack responded._

_**"Good,"** Ratchet said, **"We're headed your way. Prepare for a full assault. If you can, have an energon cube prepared."**_

_Wheeljack didn't like the sound of that. Ratchet probably needed the energon for himself. Not near enough time had passed for him to have fully recovered from the full energy transfer. Ratchet was nowhere near battle-ready._

_Wheeljack would have been in Bay 5 near the middle of the medical facility. As Ratchet and Nightfire headed that way, three Decepticons punched through the ceiling and dropped to the floor in front of them._

_Time seemed to stand still for a moment. The Decepticons were just as surprised to see them there as they were._

_"Now would be a good time to tell me you've been hiding that you're really somehow armed," Ratchet said to Nightfire as he took a step back._

_"I wish I could say I was hiding something like that too," Nightfire took a step back with him._

_Ratchet wasn't sure if he could take the Cons in his weakened state, but even if he could, he didn't want to risk Nightfire getting hurt. She was unarmed and he didn't know the extent of her combat abilities. There was no way he wanted her to take anyone on in her condition anyway. Yet, they might find that they didn't have a choice._

_"That's her!" one of the Decepticons yelled and they opened fire._

_Ratchet dove to the floor, pulling Nightfire with him._

_A circular surgical saw transformed from her right hand and she started through the wall to their left with it. Ratchet was already shooting at the enemy from their spot on the floor. He redirected his gun and shot through where Nightfire was cutting into the wall to help speed her progress. Ratchet jumped up, grabbing her with him, and rammed through the new opening in the wall._

_The one advantage that Ratchet had over the Decepticons was that he knew where he was going. He knew his med bay inside and out. Once they were in the next corridor over, he gathered Nightfire in his arms and ran towards the surgical center. The Cons were slow getting themselves through the hole Ratchet and Nightfire created in the wall, but Ratchet didn't stand around to see how long it would take them. The object at that point was to evade and hide, not fight. They could hide in a closet in the surgical center and the Decepticons would, hopefully, go right by it._

_Ratchet and Nightfire stood deathly still once he shoved her into a closet and pushed in after her. They were practically chest to chest and Ratchet could feel her pump beating rapidly in her fear of being caught. She could hear his vents next to her audios and just knew they were loud enough for the Cons to hear him too. They heard footsteps as someone came into the room. Nightfire's own vents froze. Ratchet shuttered his optics, as if the mere act of doing so would make them magically disappear._

_"I think they went this way!" they heard someone yell, and then they heard the footsteps running out of the room as the mech left._

_Ratchet sagged into her in relief and she let her head fall back against the wall with a thud._

_"Primus," she whispered._

_"They're after you," Ratchet said after making sure that they were gone, thinking on what the Con said before they opened fire on them._

_"Can't say I blame them, really," she said. "I know too much." She knew enough about her own faction to know how much of a liability they'd consider her. Megatron was probably regretting that he didn't finish the job. That train of thought also led her to another..._

_"Chromia," she whispered._

_"What about her?" Ratchet asked._

_"They're probably after her too. Lord Megatron is going to make sure this time," Nightfire said._

_Ratchet immediately tried to comm Ironhide, but, as usual, Ironhide wasn't answering._

_Ratchet stepped out of the closet and cautiously looked around to make sure the Cons were still gone._

_**"Wheeljack?"** Ratchet commed, **"Has anyone checked on the habitat ring? I can't get in touch with Ironhide."**_

_**"No one has heard a word from Ironhide or Chromia," **Wheeljack replied._

_"Come on," Ratchet said to Nightfire, "We need to go to the habitat ring. I have to make sure Ironhide and Chromia make it out."_

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_Chromia was magnificent. There was no other word that Ironhide could think to describe her at that moment._

_As soon as they made their way out of the habitat ring, the Decepticons were upon them. Ironhide was forced to forget about Nightfire as it became clear that he was going to have to fight for Chromia. Only, Chromia didn't wait for him to attack; she ran straight at them herself, her battle cries startling them for a fraction of an instant. It was the fraction of the instant she needed to make her first kill. Ironhide just stood there, delightfully stunned._

_Ironhide had nothing to fear of her ability to fight being lost. He had nothing to fear of her losing the desire of the hunt. She was the same beautiful bringer of combat maelstrom that he had always known. The only difference in her was the same kind of frenzied vengeance that he himself had heavily indulged in as of late. She was out to spill energon, and she was accomplishing just that._

_Ironhide watched her with a sparkle in his optics, battle hungry lust practically oozing from him._

_"Are you going to stand there and watch me, or are you going to help?" Chromia snapped at him as she swiped the legs out from under a smaller Decepticon and shot him point blank with her shoulder cannon._

_Ironhide's optics widened fractionally in excitement of her kill. His spark swelled in excitement of her invitation, though he received a slight jolt from her in her irritation that she would have to ask. It was always automatic with them. His hesitance disturbed her. He immediately let her know that he wasn't hesitating; he was admiring. She turned towards him, a lustful smile gracing her faceplates. She was eager and ready for him to join her at any time. Together, they were unstoppable._

_Ironhide didn't hesitate, his battle-ready side of the bond reinforcing hers as they lept into the skirmish together._

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_Ratchet and Nightfire could hear Chromia's battle cries as they ran down an adjacent corridor to the habitation ring._

_"Well, at least we know they're alive," Nightfire muttered as they heard Ironhide's threatening voice joining in._

_Silence followed, and when Ratchet and Nightfire rounded a corner, they saw the conclusion of Ironhide and Chromia's struggle down the hall from them._

_Ironhide and Chromia were standing in front of no less than six Decepticons, none of which had survived the battle. Ironhide and Chromia didn't look any worse for wear themselves, but they were obviously still alive, and both of them had these strange, satisfied, smiles on their faces. Ironhide's smile vanished the moment he saw Nightfire._

_"YOU!" Ironhide bellowed._

_Before Chromia realized what he was doing, Ironhide charged straight at Nightfire. Everything happened so fast from there that she didn't even have time to do anything but watch._

_--_

_"No wait!" Ratchet yelled, reading Ironhide's intent perfectly and stepping in in defense of Nightfire._

_Ratchet didn't even slow Ironhide down. Ironhide used his momentum to slam the medic against the wall before Ratchet could think to bring any weapons to bear on him, though he never would have done so to a fellow Autobot anyway. He hardly had time to even turn towards Nightfire before Ironhide was already upon her._

_--_

_Nightfire watched as Ironhide ran at her. His reaction was so fast upon seeing her that she didn't have time to run away. All she could do was stand there._

_'This is it,' she thought to herself. So, it was going to be the crazed Autobot. That's how she was going to die. She watched as Ratchet went for him and couldn't even bring herself to flinch when Ironhide easily slammed him aside. Then he was practically upon her..._

_Nightfire shuttered her optics, preparing herself for the death blow, strangely welcoming it._

_--_

_Ironhide was going to kill her. He had every intention of killing her. He was wholly convinced that she had called this ambush on them._

_However, as he rushed towards her, he detected movement in the shadows by the wall..._

_A split astrosecond scan of the area alerted him to a Decepticon weapon that was being aimed right at her. The Con was on the other side of the wall out of sight. He had drilled a hole large enough for the barrel of his gun to fit through. In that split astrosecond, Ironhide knew she didn't make any calls. They were there to kill her. And, Ironhide being Ironhide, was there to deny anything a Con wanted, even if it was to kill another Con._

_--_

_Nightfire felt a gust of wind go right by her. Then she heard a loud crash as the wall behind her seemed to fall around her. She heard a scream and then the sickening sound of support struts being broken. However, no painful blows were landed on her._

_Nightfire unshuttered her optics and turned towards the sounds..._

_Ironhide had gone right by her and rammed himself into the wall, full on tackling a Decepticon that was crouching behind it. The mech screamed as Ironhide crushed his back support strut and Ironhide stood up, watching him writhe on the ground. Nightfire turned as Chromia nonchalantly walked by her, right up to Ironhide's side. She growled in disgust at the would-be assassin and then drew her weapon and shot him right in the spark._

_Nightfire didn't quite know what to think. Ironhide was going to kill her; she knew it. Yet, he ended up saving her. Then there was the other side of it. She had heard how Ironhide and Chromia could be during combat together, but she wasn't prepared for Chromia's sheer coldness._

_"Primus, Ironhide," Ratchet said from his place against the wall, rubbing his now sore shoulder from the massive shove Ironhide gave him. Ratchet's head hit the wall behind him with a soft thud as he relaxed somewhat. He had forgotten how observant Ironhide was during battle._

_Ironhide ignored his sentiments. "Now what, CMO?"_

_Ratchet noticed a small stream of energon running out of Ironhide's side. "That doesn't look good."_

_Ironhide looked down, watched the energon a moment, and then looked back up at Ratchet, shrugging, "It's just a scratch."_

_Chromia mentally kicked herself. She always fought on the left side of Ironhide and he had automatically come up on her right side when he joined her in the fight. Neither one of them took into account his new blind side. They hadn't fought together since he lost sight in that optic. One of the Cons was able to jump from behind him on that side and stab him before he even saw the attack coming. The wound was far from fatal and would hardly show him down, but it could have been. Chromia made a mental note to fight on his blind side from then on._

_Nightfire dared to speak, "That's quite a scratch."_

_"He's fine," Chromia growled._

_Chromia didn't mean to be so harsh, but she was trying to direct Ironhide's attention away from Nightfire. She knew that Ratchet had feared that Ironhide was going after Nightfire. Since Ironhide made that other kill, however, he now seemed to think that Ironhide was going for Nightfire's hidden would-be assassin all along. Chromia knew better. She wasn't quick enough to stop his actions, but she knew Ironhide had intended to kill Nightfire. He just got distracted was all. Nightfire speaking after the fact wasn't going to help her chances._

_Ironhide's optics started to track towards Nightfire and Chromia brushed by him, bumping his injury as she did so. He grunted painfully, glaring in her direction. Satisfied that she had redirected his attention, she said, "Time to go."_

_Ratchet pushed himself off the wall, his authoritative air returning, "Let's get to Wheeljack and the others." He scanned Ironhide to make sure the stubborn mech wasn't hiding a potential emergency. Then he headed in the intended direction, making sure that Nightfire was fine as he passed her. "Follow me."_

_The corridors were eerily quiet as they made their way to Wheeljack's location. The Cons were no doubt trying to locate everyone within the med facility. Ratchet and his companions tried to stay as quiet as possible, so as not to draw any unwanted attention to themselves, though it was a wonder that the deafening crackle of Ironhide's right canon didn't attract every Con in existence to them. Ratchet asked him several times to subspace it, but Ironhide blatantly refused. Knowing Ironhide, he was probably inviting the fight to come to them._

_**"Ratchet," **First Aid commed, **"Do you have Ironhide, Chromia, and Nightfire with you?" **_

_As was Ratchet's protocol in an emergency evacuation, it was First Aid's job to account for all the patients in the medical facility and let Ratchet know their status. Wheeljack would gather the supplies they needed while assisting First Aid. Ratchet would do a sweep of the facility to make sure everyone was making it out while also locking everything down. He would then join First Aid and Wheeljack to help continue the evacuation, if need be, while tending to the patients' needs according to priority based off of First Aid's diagnoses, changing the priority diagnoses however he saw fit as he went along. _

_**"Yes, all three of them are with me." **Ratchet gave Ironhide and Chromia a sidelong glance before saying, **"They are in working order, for the most part. We are headed your way. How are the evacuations going?" **_

_First Aid paused too long for Ratchet's liking and Ratchet was about to ask again when First Aid finally said, **"We haven't gotten anyone out. The Decepticons have us surrounded."**_

_Ratchet stopped for a moment, Ironhide and Chromia pushing on ahead and then slowing to turn around and look at him. Nightfire gave him a puzzled look._

_**"What do you mean you haven't gotten anyone out? There are numerous exit routes in this facility." **Ratchet was becoming angry with what seemed to be incompetence on First Aid's part. He assigned those duties to the mech so he wouldn't have to do everything himself, but it amazed him how he always felt that if he wanted something done, then he'd have to do it himself. **"If Emergency Evacuation Plan C doesn't work, try another one!" **Ratchet scolded._

_**"We did, Sir,"** First Aid said. **"We tried everything. The Decepticons have every exit covered."**_

_"That's impossible!" Ratchet shouted out loud, making Nightfire jump slightly. Both Ironhide and Chromia narrowed their optics at the same time._

_**"How can that be?"** Ratchet switched back to his comm. **"We are the only ones that know where all the exits are in this facility."**_

_**"I don't know how, Sir, but they're out there...at each and every one. I couldn't risk the patients in a firefight. I don't think any of us would have made it," **First Aid was trying to remain calm._

_First Aid didn't need to explain the consequences to Ratchet. Ratchet would have made the same decision. What Ratchet couldn't understand was how the Decepticons would know where all the evacuation routes were. He was puzzled that they knew where the medical facility was in the first place. Most Autobots knew, but the evacuation routes were highly top secret information that only he, First Aid, and Wheeljack knew, plus a few of Optimus's high command, to include Optimus himself, both Optimus and..._

_Ratchet's energon froze when the realization hit him. The Decepticons could probably interrogate any Autobot prisoner to find out where the medical facility was. But, they only had one prisoner who knew all the top secret evacuation and exit routes: Elita One._

_"Primus," Ratchet whispered. They got the information from Elita One and, like Nightfire pointed out, they were there to finish what they didn't finish at Floatilla. He had a few bonded patients left, not including Nightfire. The thought crossed his mind that Megatron wasn't satisfied that they were dying quickly enough. He looked at Ironhide and Chromia, and then Nightfire, "We're in trouble."_

_Right at that moment, as if nothing worse could possibly happen, a huge explosion rocked the facility, knocking them all off of their feet._

_Ironhide jumped up immediately. "Bring them on!" He had a feral grin on his face that was matched only by Chromia. Neither Ratchet nor Nightfire felt any comfort in that sentiment._

_As soon as they all got to their feet, Ratchet took off in the direction they were headed initially. In an unheard-of scenario such as this, they would gather all the patients in one area and the medics would do what they could to protect them. Wheeljack had sufficient firepower and so did First Aid. Between the two of them, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Chromia, there should be plenty of fire-power to protect the patients. They would be able to hold off the Decepticons for a little while, at least. Ratchet would fight to the very end to save just one of them._

_Ratchet tried to contact Optimus again, but all he got was static. He realized the Decepticons were definitely jamming their signals outside of the facility. The Autobots could communicate with each other on the inside, but no signals could get out._

_As soon as they got to Wheeljack and First Aid, Ratchet ordered them all into flanking positions around the patients gathered in Bay 5. They were virtually in the middle of the medical facility, so it would take some time for the Decepticons to search through everything as they came in through every available route. That gave the small band of Autobots a little time to prepare, but not much._

_Wheeljack scanned Ratchet and immediately detected his de-energized state. He shoved him the cube of energon and then, deciding it wouldn't be enough, connected to Ratchet's CPU to transfer some energy to him. Ratchet jumped slightly at the suddenness of it._

_First Aid quickly patched up Ironhide's wound, but Ironhide hardly took notice. Ironhide was concentrating..._

_Listening..._

_Calculating..._

_Preparing..._

_He couldn't tell how many there were, but he was already anticipating what kind of weapons they had based off of the sounds they were making..._

_based off of the sounds of their footsteps..._

_based off of the sounds of the explosions._

_They were coming in heavy and hard..._

_He transmitted the information to Chromia, who had taken up position on his right side. She was going to make sure he didn't get blind-sided again. Every movement they made was already becoming synchronized through their bond. Not a damn single Decepticon was getting by them. They were as ready and as confident as ever, not a single thought of what they had lost even crossing their minds. They were ready for this. They were made for this._

_A single distinct growl sounded through the hallways as the explosions got closer. The unmistakable voice of who it belonged to echoed through the facility, "FIND THEM!"_

_Chromia's reaction to the recognition of that voice was immediate, her side of the bond faltering as a spike of fear gripped her spark. Ironhide nearly lost it, his spark skipping in her fear as a wave of fiery vengeance shrouded him with fury. Everything they lost and how rushed through their minds, sweeping through the bond like a virus until every bit of confidence they had the moment before fell apart, their synchronization completely lost._

_"Oh Primus," Nightfire's hand pressed against her chassis over her spark, "It's Megatron."_

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**AN**: Collapses in relief to FINALLY get this chapter done. Good lawd, it was a tough one to write! Oh, and if you would like a little more insight into Hide and Mia using their bond in battle, re-read 'Never Could Wait.' That one-shot can be tied heavily to this part of the story.


	47. As Long As There Is Hope Part III

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow and the Decepticon Nightfire belong to Litahatchee/ Letohatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to the awesometastic **REVIEWERS** of chapter 46; you guys are simply the best: **theshadowcat, vanillathunder215, Faecat, Time Manipulator, Lecidre, lady_tecuma, 1bloodtempest, Tears of Twisted Angels, KB, Peeka-chan, CuteKittten, Xerios, TransFlashbacks, night-walker98, jadedfalcon, Shizuka Taiyou, Bluebird Soaring, flamingmarsh**, **Flameshield, **and** Iluvbee1990**.

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Responses to reviews for ch. 46 have been moved to 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' on my biopage.

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You guys ROCK! Wow, thank you!

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma. **The characters are different in each of our stories, but the name is hers.

**NOTE** on why I'm doing these flashbacks and telling the stories of the other characters besides Ironhide and Chromia: I have not forgotten the original plotline; quite the contrary actually. All of this ties in to the present and is a representation of how history repeats itself. I have been showing how Ironhide and Chromia have dealt with their situation in the past (the wrong way) and how they are realizing that in the present, AND, at the same time, how they were able to continue on with each other in the past (finding out the capabilities they still have that made them fall in love in the first place, etc., etc. I have yet to show how they continue on with each other in the present, but I'm getting to it). In the mean time, the ones around them who affect their lives and who their lives affect have their own story/issues/etc., which gives an even greater insight into Ironhide and Chromia, because the people we surround ourselves with can also define who we are. This may be where I fail as an author (besides being a poor planner), as that point may not be clear. If I could do this story over again, it would be a trilogy. The first part would end where Ironhide feels Bumblebee's spark for the first time. The second part would be the 'past' story that I am telling as flashbacks. The third part would be the 'present' story.

Prepare yourselves; there's a lot going on in this one. Another long one *smile* This chapter is a flashback following that of ch. 46. The last part is in the present. _Italics_ are flashbacks. _**Bold**_ **_print_** is comm transmissions. Normal print is the present.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 47

As Long As There Is Hope: Part III

by Litahatchee

_"They won't need to find us; we're going to get buried alive in here," one of the patients commented nervously as the explosions seemed to never cease._

_The ceiling, the walls, and everything around them seemed to be falling in and over on them._

_Ratchet turned to look at the patient that spoke. It was Smokescreen. He had been with them since the failed attempt to rescue Elita One. Smokescreen made optic contact with him and hunched down a bit, preparing for a customary scolding or wrench throwing from Ratchet. But, none ever came._

_Ratchet looked around. The medics had done their best to shield the wounded from the falling debris, but it really did seem hopeless. He couldn't bring himself to say anything at all to Smokescreen. He glanced in Nightfire's direction and she glanced back. He was worried, and he could see the worry in her optics too._

_Nightfire had initially thought that Megatron had merely sent some soldiers to take care of things for him. However, now that she knew he was there and it seemed he brought the whole Decepticon army with him, it seemed he was going to be sure of it personally and once and for all. She couldn't prevent her frame from shaking. She had been in the claws of that mad-mech and never wanted to find herself in that situation ever again, even if she was already dying anyway. There was no comfort for her and she glanced at Chromia, knowing there was even less comfort for the other femme. _

_Nightfire made optic contact with Chromia and paused. There was something there, a recognition that they had been through this before, acknowledgment that they had both suffered at the claws of the same beast, a shared connection, a kinship that could only be fully understood by one other._

_Ironhide could feel Chromia's struggle through their bond. She was looking for strength, strength from anywhere she could get it. She was fighting to maintain some semblance of sanity. Ironhide immediately felt guilty for faltering. They could bury their loss in their own minds. They could ignore it, delete it, avoid it...but they could not, should not, ignore each other. Their bond was as real as it got for them. They could not allow anyone, not even Megatron, especially Megatron, to come between that. He took enough from them already. Shutting down at the first sign of their fears overhwelming them was going to tear them apart. Ironhide didn't just come from the Pit thinking she was dead and reviving her from terminal lock to have them both lose faith in each other now._

_In a rare public display of seeming affection, Ironhide suddenly grabbed hold of Chromia and drew her to his frame, lifting her up until their sparks were flush against each other. If he could pump every bit of strength he possessed into her at that moment, he would have, but he just settled with flooding her senses with encouragement and support._

_Everyone was watching them, confusion of why Ironhide would suddenly be amorous in the middle of such a dire situation written all over their faceplates. Ironhide didn't care what they were thinking. It didn't matter. It didn't have anything to do with being affectionate. She needed to know that he was there for her and, by Primus, he was letting her know. He didn't make it in time at Floatilla and they would suffer forever because of it. He would never be too late again._

_"No matter what," he rumbled in her audios, his spark nearly bursting with emotion._

_No matter what, they were together. No matter what, they would not die alone. No matter what, they would not lose sight of their bond and what it meant to each of them, together and apart. No matter what, they would not let anything come between that. No matter what their fears and weaknesses, they still drew strength from each other. No matter what they continued to refuse to face, what they couldn't understand, and what they couldn't accept, they were still sparkmates. No matter what, they would always be in love. No matter what, they would try to be there for each other._

_It wasn't until Chromia acknowledged Ironhide's embrace with an embrace of her own that he released her. The change in them was immediate and infectious. They were ready for the fight again, that same confidence they had before returning and giving everyone in the room hope. Ironhide and Chromia were two of the best warriors the Autobots had to offer. At the top of their game, they were arguably __**the **__best. If anyone had to be trapped and surrounded, they couldn't hope for any better warriors to be trapped and surrounded with._

_Ratchet glanced at Nightfire again, the smug expression on his face that his methods to bring those two together had worked not escaping her notice. She gave him an incredulous look. If she didn't think that they were all about to die, she might have rolled her optics. Ratchet was not going to let her live that down, even if it was the last thing he did._

_A new set of explosions with a decidedly different sound shook the foundation._

_Ratchet perked up a little bit, looking to Ironhide for confirmation, "That sounds like Autobot weaponry."_

_Ironhide shook his head, uncertain, "It sounds like it, but the Cons also know who they're hunting. It could be a trap to lure us out."_

_The Decepticons would know that either, or, or both Ironhide and Chromia knew Cybertronian weaponry extensively. They didn't know exactly if Ironhide was in the medical facility, only knowing where he was last seen at Trypticon, but they suspected that Chromia was there. Ironhide's sparkmate would know just as much as he did. If they really wanted to fight dirty, and they usually did, the Cons could trick those in the facility into thinking the Autobots had arrived to help them. Of course, the Autobots really could have arrived to help them, but Ironhide wasn't taking any chances until he actually saw one with his own optics._

_As if in answer to his thought, the door to the room slid open. Ironhide and Chromia's canons crackled to life at the same time as Ratchet at the other medics drew their weapons. For a second, nothing happened. There was nothing there. All sound seemed to cease at that moment._

_Then, Mirage shimmered into existence as he switched off his cloaking device. "Does anyone ever answer their comms anymore?" he quipped jovially._

_Everyone in the room sagged in relief, a collective sigh from their vents indicating just how relieved they all were. Ratchet lamented that they all couldn't have cloaking devices like Mirage's. It sure would have made things a lot easier for them._

_"It sure is good to see you!" Smokescreen said excitedly._

_Mirage commed Hound, __**"I found them. Inform Prowl and the others that they are in Bay 5."**_

_Ratchet stood up as Mirage entered the room, letting the door shut behind him._

_"I don't know what you did to frag them off, but I think every Con in existence is out there," Mirage said. He looked around the room and spotted Ironhide, "Oh, that explains it."_

_Ironhide crossed his arms over his chassis as he leveled a hard glare at Mirage, not at all amused with the joke._

_Mirage continued looking at Ironhide, "When did you get back? No one has been able to locate you for..."_

_"Don't ask," Ratchet interrupted._

_"Do you have a plan?" Ironhide nearly growled, "This is hardly the time for a social visit."_

_"Of course there's a plan," Mirage said. "I sneak in and locate you while the Cons are being distracted outside. I then inform Hound, who is within the perimeter to communicate. He sneaks out and informs Prowl and Jazz, who'll be along shortly with the big guns."_

_Ironhide looked at Ratchet with a half grin on his face, "As much as I hate to admit it, I sure do like it when you're right." The other set of explosions they heard were, indeed, Autobot in origin._

_Mirage looked from Ironhide to Chromia and back to Ironhide, "Our chances weren't really looking all that good, but I think the odds just got better." He grinned._

_Chromia snorted derisively, "Don't count your blessings just yet..."_

_Before she could say anything else, Nightfire spoke over her, "You bunch of arrogant Autobot fraggers. Megatron won't give a slag." Chromia merely nodded her head at the interruption; her sentiments exactly._

_Nightfire was seriously fragged off. All the blasted talking wasn't helping to keep them hidden. Granted, it was hard to hear anything over all the damn explosions and they weren't speaking over the noise by any means. However, no one else other than this one Autobot, whose only benefit seemed to be that he could make himself disappear, had shown up yet and the odds didn't matter one bit when Megatron was involved._

_"Megatron? He's here?" Mirage asked, his voice a little lower than before, which was now barely audible even to those standing right next to him._

_Mirage immediately transmitted the information to Hound in the hopes that Hound could still get his messages. The Cons were still jamming the frequencies to the outside, but being a part of a special unit had its privileges. Their comm systems were much more adept than the average Autobot's._

_As if on cue, Mirage got a transmission. Only, it wasn't from Hound, like he first thought._

_**"Mirage,"**__ Jazz transmitted to him, __**"We're in, but there's a problem. We can't get to Bay 5. They're closing in on your position. You'll have to fight your way to us." **__Jazz quickly sent him their location. The bots in Bay 5 only needed to make it a few corridors down._

_**"Did Hound get my last transmission?"**__ Mirage asked worriedly._

_**"He did,"**__ Jazz confirmed. Gunfire and explosions sounded through the comm. They could also hear them since Jazz and the others weren't that far away. Static erupted through the transmission as Jazz continued to speak, but all Mirage got was, __**"...mus...knows...making his way to intercept...You need...everyone out of there..."**_

_"They can't make it this far," Mirage said to his companions, "We have to go to them."_

_Chromia's shoulder canon crackled to life, "I'm tired of waiting anyway. Let's get out of this Pit-forsaken place." _

_Sending Ironhide a prompt to move his aft, Chromia swiftly ran out the door. She was going to take the fight to the Cons. Ironhide's own canons hummed to life in anticipation._

_Not wasting any more time, Ironhide started after her when, suddenly, part of the ceiling collapsed. The sound of twisting metal pierced his audios until they sounded muffled. He could feel his own energon pumping through them, the sound of his own vents strangely being the only thing he could hear. A cloud of debris filled the air so thick that he couldn't see anything. _

_Ironhide immediately sought out Chromia through their bond. He was relieved to find that the collapse missed her. She was currently holding off a narrow section of hallway, made narrow by the amount of debris that had collapsed into it. Not a single twinge of fear could be felt from her. Once she was sure that Ironhide was relatively okay, she sent him a sarcastic, almost bored, transmission that he could join her anytime he felt like it. A slag-eating grin crossed his features, one he was sure she was displaying as well._

_Confident that Chromia was uninjured, far from it, Ironhide took in his surroundings as the debris cloud began to settle. His audios started ringing as they began recalibrating themselves. Wheeljack was holding off an small entrance that had been opened up due to the collapse while First Aid and Mirage helped the patients get out from under the debris. Thus far, no one seemed to be fatally trapped and the Cons were being held off. Once his vision cleared completely, Ironhide realized the reason that Jazz and the others couldn't get to them. _

_So much of the facility had been destroyed that they were holed up in a somewhat protective cacoon. Other than the ceiling collapse, all other collapses, cave-ins, and structure failures had made it impossible for anyone to get to them where they were. Only a couple of narrow entry points could be detected and those points were so narrow that only one Con could get through at a time, which could easily be held off for the better part of forever. Too bad ammunition didn't hold out for forever, though. _

_Ironhide didn't see Ratchet, but he heard his gruff tone over the ringing in his audios. He was in a corner of the room that Ironhide's vision was obscured from, but Ironhide was certain that he wasn't harmed. _

_Having a visual of all the Autobots in the room and sure they were doing all they could, Ironhide turned to run out and join his glorious sparkmate. That's when the ringing in his audios cleared long enough for him to hear it. It was the sound of a femme's weak voice and it was coming from the same direction where he heard Ratchet._

_"It would be such a tragedy, considering I'm dying anyway. Now, get out of here!" the voice was saying. Ratchet began arguing with her._

_Ironhide knew who it was immediately, yet he couldn't stop himself from approaching the sound of their voices, moving debris aside as he did so until he could finally see them. _

_Nightfire was trapped beneath a large beam. She appeared to be mangled up pretty badly. Ratchet was hunched over the beam, trying to find the best way to remove it, but failing. He didn't want to use his saw, for fear that he might accidentally cut through something on her. He couldn't exactly see how her arms and legs were positioned beneath the beam to safely start cutting it away._

_"I'm not leaving anyone behind, and that includes you," Ratchet was saying._

_Ironhide's first thought was to put her out of her misery. The femme had suffered enough. Wasn't that the Decepticon way? They would rather die than suffer. Their medics would euthanize them rather than waste resources saving those patients that couldn't be saved. She would probably thank him for finally releasing her tortured spark. However, something about that didn't sit well with him. _

_Ironhide watched as Ratchet desperately did all he could to save her. She was dying anyway. She was a waste to resources. She wasn't even an Autobot. However, Ratchet was an Autobot and therein lay the difference. He would do whatever it took, no matter what, to help every patient live the full length of life that was possible for each of them. He wanted them all to live and if they were dying, he'd help them live as best a quality of life as he could give them, even if it meant wasting resources. It was his programming, but there was more to it than that; he was an Autobot. _

_Ironhide thought too much like a Decepticon for many of his Autobot brethren, but he was still an Autobot. As he watched Ratchet lift the beam, he approached. Ratchet could lift the beam high enough for Nightfire to scoot out, but she wasn't able to do so. _

_Ratchet saw movement out of the corner of his optic and turned to see who it was. Ironhide was moving towards him wordlessly. They made optic contact as Ironhide moved to take the weight of the beam from Ratchet. Ratchet let him, not letting go until he was certain that Ironhide had his footing and a good hand hold on it. Ratchet then crawled underneath the raised beam to gather Nightfire in his arms. Ironhide and Ratchet never said a word to each other._

_Ironhide transmitted to him, __**"We'll hold them off. You get everyone out of here."**_

_Ironhide did not, once, look at Nightfire, not even a glance, but she watched him as he left. He gave no acknowledgement that he'd just saved her life...again. She looked up at Ratchet's face as he carried her towards the others, but he gave no acknowledgement of what Ironhide did, either, as he began barking orders to his subordinates._

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_"Nice of you to finally join me," Chromia stated as Ironhide came up on her left side. She added sarcastically, "Again."_

_A sardonic half smile graced his features as he looked upon her and then the Cons slumped in the hallway that she'd killed. It was only their second skirmish together since Floatilla and she made the first kills both times. Primus, he loved this femme._

_Ironhide transmitted to Chromia that they needed to distract the Cons, so that Ratchet and the others could escape from the other narrow entryway that Wheeljack was defending. That meant that they needed to draw the Cons from over there as well. Both Ironhide and Chromia shrugged at each other through their bond. It wasn't going to be hard to get their attention. _

_As completely synchronized as they were before, Chromia knew what Ironhide was going to do before he did it. She was ready when he stepped back, pulled up his cannons, and blew the narrow passage into a gaping canyon. There was now a big enough hole for the Cons to rush them through, but before they got the chance, Ironhide and Chromia rushed at them instead, sparing no amount of ammunition as they charged through, firing everything they had. _

_Several of the Cons were yelling, "They're over here!" as it seemed more than a couple of Autobots were coming at them. Just as Ironhide and Chromia anticipated and hoped, the Decepticons at the other passage abandoned it in order to rush to where the fight was happening. It didn't cross their minds that the Autobots might have split up._

_Ironhide and Chromia continued firing, the deafening roar of their cannons testament to the death that they were raining upon the Decepticons, a fiery vengeance strengthening their already impenetrable synchronization through their bond. They were fighting as one as they always had, but they weren't playing games this time. It was no longer only for the thrill of the battle, for the challenge of the fight. It was to the death. They would never be satisfied again until they had killed every last one of the Cons they were engaged against. Whatever it took to achieve that, they did it. If the Decepticons thought they were frightening to go against before the Floatilla Massacre, they were now truly horrifying._

_When Ironhide and Chromia were close enough to engage in hand to hand combat, they saw __**him**__. Ironhide's side of the bond faltered. Chromia practically grabbed him through their bond and forced him to focus. She did not know where the strength to do that came from, but he was there for her in her time of hesitation, so she was now there for him. His presence latched onto her like a vice, drawing strength until he was nothing but a wall of fortitude. A Con attacked him, but he easily dispatched the mech, his optics only on the prize._

_Ironhide took a step in Megatron's direction. He hesitated, but not for the same reason as before. Going against Megatron was suicide and he knew it. He had to survive for Chromia. He did not want her to suffer Nightfire's fate; he took more notice of that than he let on. Chromia's countenance, however, suggested that she would go with him, that they would fight him together. He was encouraged by that, but her mind was elsewhere. _

_They could fight Megatron now, but they would more than likely lose. They could cause more harm to the Decepticons if they only engaged in battles that they knew they could win. It would be more beneficial for the Autobot cause, for their cause, if they chose their battles wisely. They were no good for the Autobot cause if they were dead._

_"I want to live Ironhide," Chromia said from beside him, her voice sounding small as she made the painful choice to walk away, to avoid the one that caused them so much pain. It was a battle that they could not win._

_Ironhide looked down at her and slowly nodded his head. As hard as it was going to be, he wanted to live too. He wanted them both to live. The path of retreat was clear. Nothing was blocking their way. They would join Jazz and the others and fight their way out of this Pit-forsaken place._

_"Ironhide!" Megatron suddenly yelled from down the hall as Ironhide and Chromia started to retreat. "I see that that pretty little sparkmate of yours survived. Tell me, did your sparkling survive too?"_

_All manner of pain and rage took control of Ironhide as he turned towards Megatron, voicing his fury in a vengeful roar that had every Decepticon within his reach cowering in fear. Megatron, however, was unaffected. _

_A sadistic laugh erupted from Megatron's vocalizers as he watched Chromia grasp at her chest in shock of him mentioning their sparkling, marveling at how easy it was to take their defenses down. It only served as further testament to rid Cybertron of its weaknesses. If losing a sparkling could bring down the Autobots' finest warriors, then the ability to have one was a weakness beyond imagining. He was glad that he was successful in ridding the planet of most of the bonded pairs. Once he got rid of these two, he had only a few yet to go._

_Before Megatron had a chance to advance on them, however, a great force plunged through the crumbling wall, slamming him to the ground at a dizzying speed. Megatron knew who it was immediately, as the presence of his brother flared through his spark with intense fury._

_"Get out of here!" Optimus yelled to Ironhide, who didn't need to be told twice as he grabbed Chromia and retreated towards the passage Ratchet and the others escaped from._

_Megatron did not anticipate that Optimus would be anywhere near. This was supposed to be a surprise attack on the medical facility. Command was usually not near the med bay unless they were injured. As far as Megatron could tell, Optimus was not ailing in any way. He wondered if Elita was able to get a warning out. Perhaps Jetfire's experimentation to block the bond wasn't working. Megatron would make it a point to find out..._

_Optimus grabbed a hold of the armor over Megatron's chest, raised him up, and them slammed him back down on the ground hard enough that stars erupted in Megatron's vision. Optimus was nothing short of furious._

_"Where is she?!" Optimus demanded, raising him up and slamming him down again._

_Megatron pulled his knees up between them and forcefully kicked Optimus off of him. He jumped to his feet. He knew exactly what Optimus wanted._

_"You think I'd be foolish enough to bring her with me? She's right where I left her. Your attempt at rescue was pathetic," Megatron mocked._

_"Let her go!" Optimus could hardly contain his fury._

_Megatron was having way too much fun with this. He smiled evilly, "And miss all the delicious time I get to spend with her? I think not..."_

_Optimus launched himself at his brother as all manner of rage consumed him. _

_"She's innocent!" he yelled as he landed a brutal blow to Megatron's faceplate._

_Megatron staggered back, the only indication that the blow affected him, as he let out a laugh before saying, "Innocent? How? Tsk tsk, brother. There are no innocents in this war. She's just as formidable a warrior as your Weapons Specialist's pretty little blue sparkmate." Megatron took on a mock thoughtful look. "I tell you what...You turn over that femme traitor you're harboring, your Weapons Specialist and his mate, and I'll consider it."_

_"I would never trade a life for a life," Optimus responded, even for his own sparkmate. He would never be able to live with himself if he did that. She would never be able to live with herself if he did that. _

_"That's fine," Megatron retorted. "I'll just find them myself." He knew Optimus well enough that he knew he'd say something like that._

_He regarded Optimus a moment before spreading out his hands, nonchalantly saying, "I'll trade her for the AllSpark, then."_

_"No," Optimus stated firmly. Megatron knew he would say that as well. _

_Optimus went for him again, and they found themselves grappling for dominance as they both fell to the ground. Megatron struggled as Optimus got the better of him, grabbing him in a choke-hold as he pulled the mech around, his back held securely against Optimus's chassis. He tried to break free, but Optimus's hold was solid. Megatron heard a whining hum as Optimus powered up his gun. He pointed it right at Megatron's head._

_"Here's a trade for you; tell Trypticon to release her, or I'll blow your CPU into oblivion," Optimus stated, a strange dead calm coming over him that Megatron could feel in his own spark. Optimus was serious. He continued once he was sure Megatron knew he meant it, "They won't be able to find enough chips left to allow you to recall even one memory." _

_For the first time in a long time, Megatron felt fear. Optimus wouldn't dare extinguish his spark, but there were things worse than death._

_Optimus angled his gun a little higher, pushing the barrel roughly against the perfect spot on Megatron's head where one shot would shatter every memory chip he held._

_"What will it be?" Optimus asked, the calmness of his voice unsettling._

_Several Cons that had been watching the exchange started to advance, but Optimus jabbed Megatron even harder, causing him to tell the Decepticons to stay back._

_What happened in the next few breems was so fast that Megatron scarcely had a chance to compute it..._

_Optimus suddenly released him, crying out as he grabbed at his own chestplating where his spark lay beneath. His optics widened in shock as a look of absolute horror crossed over his features. Megatron could feel the torment of Optimus's spark in his own, a pain so vast that it could only mean one thing... _

_Megatron stood up and watched him, not sure whether to believe it and kill him, or just walk away and let him suffer through however much life he had left. Either way, it would be easy to take the AllSpark from the Autobots now. All he had to do was find it. _

_A few moments later, Megatron got a transmission from Shockwave. __**"There was a complication with the experiment. She did not survive the last test."**_

_The transmission was solid confirmation of what was happening to Optimus now. Megatron would suffer the loss of his brother for forever, but it was the price he was willing to pay for total victory. _

_Megatron became suspicious of why Shockwave was informing him of this news and not Jetfire. __**"This is Jetfire's project; why are you the one informing me of this?" **__Shockwave had wanted the job himself, so maybe he was gloating. Megatron became angry. __**"Do not call me to gloat about Jetfire's failure, you jealous slag heap. I want to know this from Jetfire himself."**_

_As stoic as Shockwave always was, he answered without emotion, __**"Jealousy is self-serving and illogical. I am merely conveying the message because Jetfire asked me to. He is indisposed within the containment area at the moment, but thought you should know immediately."**_

_Megatron accepted that answer. He knew that no comm could be transmitted from the containment area. Jetfire was more than likely preparing to shut it all down and dispose of the body._

_**"Tell Jetfire I want to see the body," **__Megatron stated before he ended the transmission._

_Megatron turned away from Optimus and ordered the Decepticons to fall back. It was Starscream who protested, as usual._

_"We should kill him and go after the others," Starscream stated. Then he added mockingly, "Isn't that why we are here? To finish the job?" _

_Megatron fixed him with a level glare, "Do not question my orders. Fall back immediately."_

_Starscream had a brother. He of all Decepticons should understand. He probably did understand. He just always took it upon himself to defy Megatron in every way._

_Starscream walked up to the pain-wracked Prime and leveled his gun at his CPU, "We could at least do to him as he was going to do to you."_

_Megatron was considering it when, without warning, every Autobot in existence was upon them. They had obviously managed to find a way around all the closed off areas and were now advancing in force. Starscream was forced to move away from Optimus as he began defending himself from the Autobots. _

_Megatron took one last look at his brother, once again satisfied in his decision to rid Cybertron of such a weakness. If the death of a sparkmate could bring down such a formidable warrior as Optimus, it only proved how much of a weakness it was. With Elita dead and Optimus dying, Nightfire no longer mattered, and he'd get another shot at Ironhide and Chromia. The Decepticons would fall back until his death. Without their Prime, the Autobots didn't stand a chance._

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Will and Sarah Lennox started back to their bedroom after calming Annabelle from a nightmare. It was fairly late, but Will thought he might be able to get a few more hours of shut-eye before he needed to wake up for work. Sarah suddenly stopped at a hallway window.

"Optimus is standing out in the yard," she said, the sound of her voice somewhere between awe and concern.

Will looked out the window too. He saw that Optimus was looking up at the stars, his hand over his chest plating.

"What do you think he thinks about?" Sarah asked thoughtfully. She noticed that Optimus seemed to be a lot more of a deep thinker than Ironhide, or maybe Ironhide just never let on.

"Damned if I know," Will answered. "I'll go check on him."

---

Optimus stood unmoving as Will approached him. Will stopped next to his left foot and turned his head towards the stars as well. They stood in companionable silence for several minutes.

"Are you okay?" Will finally asked.

Optimus looked down at the human, and then back up at the stars, but he didn't say anything.

Will rolled his head to the side in contemplation of the acknowledgment that had no answer. He looked at the placement of Optimus's hand. It was resting right over where his spark would be. There was something about that...

"Do you have a mate, like Ironhide? A, er, sparkmate?" Will asked after several long moments of debating with himself over whether or not he should ask such a thing.

Optimus didn't answer, but he noticed Will looking at his hand. He glanced down at it and then dropped it, looking up at the stars again.

It wasn't like Optimus to avoid him, so Will knew something was bothering the Autobot leader tremendously. He knew then, without a doubt, that it had to do with someone that had to be very close to the mech.

Taking his chances on his assumption that Optimus did, indeed, have a mate, Will, like every human trying to comfort a despondent friend, tried to make small talk, "You think she heard your call?"

Optimus looked at him as if he was impressed with his insight. William Lennox had observed enough of Ironhide's behavior to more than likely know that he had to have a mate of his own.

Before Optimus had a chance to answer, Will realized the next horrible conclusion...Was Optimus's mate even alive to hear his call? Perhaps that was what Optimus was worried about. Will had no idea about how a Cybertronian could feel fluctuations in a bond, but the sadness in Optimus's optics was more telling to him than anything else Optimus could say about it.

"You're not sure if she's out there, are you?" Will sounded somewhat shocked. He kicked himself for trying to make small talk about such a touchy subject. His words couldn't have been a comfort at all.

"I don't know," Optimus finally spoke, confirming Will's assumption that he did have a sparkmate, "but I haven't lost hope."

Optimus could tell that Will was kicking himself for prompting him, but there was something about these humans that did make him feel better. He was glad Will came out to stand with him. Optimus smiled at him gratefully, adding,

"As long as there is hope, I haven't lost anything."

8888

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

OMG, that was one of the hardest chapters I have ever written. I had no idea it would be so hard to write this one. I apologize for the length of time it took me to get this one out, but I hope you all were able to remain somewhat patient *snort* At least it's a nice and long one (one of the longest, actually) *wink* Thank you!

NOTE ADDED ON SEPT 1st: There seems to be a large number of folks thinking Elita died in the past. I even lost three faves:( I had no idea folks would lose faith if they thought a main character died like that. I honestly thought it was already known that she did, indeed, survive her situation with the Decepticons. Unless you're reading this straight through, I can see how one could forget all the references to Elita's survival in the past storyline. I will include them here so that you don't have to go back and read, unless you just want to.

**Excerpt from chapter 7:**

"Yes, but, they don't have to know what she is," Ironhide said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Will wondered.

"Everything," Ironhide was starting to get tired, "For all we know, she's the last femme."

Ratchet desperately hoped not. Optimus would not survive without Elita. Then, what would they do?

(Ratchet would not be hoping that Elita was alive if she had died at Trypticon)

**Excerpt from chapter 9**:

Chromia looked up at the stars as she thought about the second, "Where are you?" She really needed a friend right now.

(She's thinking of Elita here)

**Excerpt from chapter 10**:

_Their tactics became so brutal that Optimus was forced to split them up. He sent Ironhide to Beta Nebulae and eventually to Artemis I. He sent Chromia to Vector Sigma, where she served with Elita One, who went there once she recovered from her ordeal with the Decepticons._

_Overall, they were all separated, as the search for the AllSpark began, after Optimus launched it into space._

**Excerpt from chapter 20:**

"I wish I knew Elita. Optimus told me during the AllSpark mission. Do you know her?"

"Oh, yes, very well..." Chromia concentrated on directing comforting sensations to Bumblebee's troubled spark without allowing his to comfort her own. She needed her pain. She needed it to keep Sunshadow close.

"Where is she?" he asked next.

She was silent a moment and then, "I don't know...We had to split up." She didn't elaborate any further as she sent a small magnetic pulse to his spark from her right hand while her spark sent a pulse of soothing sensations through his frame.

**Excerpt from chapter 26**:

_Ratchet sighed. He tried another approach, "You saved Elita. Optimus is forever in your debt."_

_"I didn't save Elita; she saved herself," Nightfire replied._

_"That's not the way Optimus sees it," Ratchet said back._

_"Prime can see whatever he wants," she said._

_"She never would have made it, if it weren't for you!" Ratchet was getting angry. This femme was impossibly hard-headed._

_"Congratulations to me, then," she replied in that sarcastic tone again. "I have fulfilled my obligations. Let me go, Ratchet," she said._

**Excerpt from chapter 38**:

Ratchet thought about Elita again, and hoped to Primus that she was alright. She had her own issues, but she had been perfectly, one hundred percent, healthy in every way when Optimus had to leave her for the AllSpark mission. Not only that, but she and Optimus were always close, no matter what...

---

At the beginning of chapter 45, Optimus is thinking on how he felt this in his spark before, which means Elita had to have survived something similar at least once in the past (which is the past instance and the events leading up to it that I wrote about in chapters 46 and 47). I guess this is where the amount of time it is taking me to tell the story is backfiring on me. It was always clear that Elita survived, but I didn't realize that so much time is passing and people are forgetting. What isn't clear, and the part of the story that I haven't written yet, is how Elita survived when everyone was so sure she was dead and what is happening to her now. The question is whether or not she is still alive in the present and it is all just like what Optimus felt in his spark in the past, or if she has just died. That is what Optimus doesn't know right now. Forgive me for not making it more clear that she had survived her past ordeal (as I thought I had that covered fairly extensively). How she appears to have 'died' in the past, but somehow really didn't, is something I still have to address. I'm very excited about it and can't wait to get to that part, so hang in there, folks...As long as there is hope, right? There's always hope! I said this story will have a happy ending, and it will.

Thank you!

8888


	48. Recovery Part II

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow and the Decepticon Nightfire belong to Litahatchee/ Letohatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to the outstanding **REVIEWERS** of chapter 47. I was totally blown away by your awesome reviews: **Jadedsnowtiger, Lecidre, JeanieLee, Doc Lee, bbratteberget, 1bloodtempest, lady tecuma, CuteKittten, dreamerblvd, TransFlashbacks, plenoptic, vanillathunder215, theshadowcat, Peeka-chan, night-walker98, Faecat, Flameshield, flamingmarsh, Sergeant Duck, Bluebird Soaring, Iluvbee1990, **and **Shizuka Taiyou.**

Responses to reviews for ch. 47 have been moved to 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' on my biopage.

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

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Oh my goodness! Still going strong after two years. Thank you!

**Visitor Country Reader Traffic: August, 2009**: USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Lithuania, Norway, Thailand, France, Indonesia, Germany, Finland, Poland, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Peru, Bermuda, Italy, Sweden, Costa Rica, South Korea, Mexico, Chile, South Africa, Austria, Portugal, Malaysia, China, Asia/Pacific Region, Argentina, Ireland, Czech Revar, Hungary, Denmark, Brazil, and Greece. WOW!

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo**. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma. **The characters are different in each of our stories, but the name is hers.

**NOTE**: I put a summary of Elita hints and clues that are dispersed throughout the story. The summary is at the end of chapter 47 if you want to have a look. I also wrote a Second Anniversary letter for the story on my dA account. Sept. 17th marked the second year since this story was first posted. There is a link to the letter on my biopage. An infinite amount of thanks to every one of you!

**NOTE NOTE: **Prepare yourselves...again. The emotion in this one...OMG. I thought that chapter 47 was the hardest chapter I have ever written; I was wrong. This chapter is enormous. This marks a turning point in the story and I've never been so nervous to post as I am now. I wasn't this nervous when I posted chapter 10! This one took a lot out of me. I laughed and cried while writing this and had to take several breaks that lasted days in between. It's been a month since my last post, and I've been working on this that entire time, but it's the longest chapter, by far, so that's a positive *wink* I hope to Primus that I got it down right. I'm going to have to take a small break after this one.

This chapter is entirely back in the present. Normal print is the present. This is immediately following the present events from chapter 43. This chapter draws heavily on numerous chapters written months ago, but I think you guys will remember as you read. The last part of the chapter is very much like chapter 28, with some changes on how that all is affecting them after this chapter. If you don't remember 28, you could read both to get the full picture. Remember: that is what it is like for Ironhide and Chromia when they are joined. Oh, and before anyone says anything, 'embracement' is a word (I had to look it up, as it didn't look right to me either).

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 48

Recovery: Part II

by Litahatchee

_"Forgiveness has nothing to do with forgetting...A wounded person cannot--indeed, should not--think that a faded memory can provide an expiation of the past. To forgive, one must remember the past, put it into perspective, and move beyond it. Without remembrance, no wound can be transcended_."

Beverly Flanigan

---

Chromia was out the door before Ratchet could throw the second wrench he made a show of going for. She couldn't help but chuckle at him a little bit as his threat added a little extra bounce to her step. He never actually purposefully hit her with anything, but there was something endearing about that when he was able to be so convincing that 'now' might be the time he'd start.

However, as Chromia entered the hallway, her smile faded and her step slowed. Ratchet had made her promise that she'd go and find Ironhide after the weld replacement, but Chromia really didn't know how to go about it. What would she even say to Ironhide at this point? It briefly crossed her mind that she didn't have to say anything. Ironhide would more than likely be willing to continue to keep it bottled up within themselves and they could continue their lives as they did before, without addressing anything with each other, but suffering in private anguish because of it. Somehow, it just seemed easier that way.

Other than being comforting through their sparks through mag pulses or just being next to each other, neither of them ever spoke of it together. They didn't blame each other, no, but their individual guilt and pain overwhelmed them, each of them dealing with it in their own way, but never overcoming it, never moving past it. Ironhide had never spoken Sunshadow's name again, not that she knew of, and neither had she. Then it was lost to her for vorns.

Ratchet had helped them to take a step in the right direction with terminal lock, but they turned around and took another step in the wrong direction. They did draw closer to each other, but they drew further away from the truth of Sunshadow's fate. Nightfire was right because that, in turn, would only make them draw away from each other again in the future.

Chromia stopped and just stood facing the wall, looking down at her hands as she did so. At that moment, she couldn't fathom how their avoidance of it was easier at all. Nightfire's voice flashed through her processor, _"Nobody ever said it was going to be easy."_

Chromia leaned forward until her forehead rested against the wall. Nightfire was such a steadying element all that time ago. How could she have forgotten that? How could she have forgotten Nightfire at all? Nightfire was right; deletion was most certainly not the answer. There was so much that Chromia had lost because of her inability to face the truth, her compulsion to take the 'easy' route and just try to be rid of it. She shuttered her optics and released a shaky sigh from her vents. The depth of her weaknesses must have been immeasurable, and she hated herself for it.

Somewhere along the way, Chromia realized that she didn't want the memory chip removed after all. Her resignation with it didn't mean that she wouldn't relapse several times and try to delete stuff from it, but she had made a conscious decision to keep the chip in place. If she recalled correctly, she remembered Nightfire being happy and relieved with that decision. Nightfire had said something about it being a good 'first step.'

Chromia couldn't quite remember when she realized she had lost her sparkling's name, but it was sometime while Ironhide was gone on the AllSpark mission. She had been trying to get it back ever since. She was able to get it back recently, but it only came to her when she was finally back in Ironhide's presence. Ironhide was the only anchor she had, yet when she finally decided she wanted those memories back, she couldn't find them in him.

Chromia released another shaky burst of air from her vents. She really couldn't blame Ironhide for whatever he did with his memories, especially since her own coping methods were far worse.

_"Look again, Chromia. He isn't any better off than you are,"_ Ratchet's words suddenly rang clear through her processor.

Chromia tried to look again, but Ironhide's memories were all so confusing and distant, and so...Ironhide. It was nothing like the clarity to which Ratchet held Nightfire's memories. The only thing clear in Ironhide's CPU download was Bumblebee. The sickening feeling of being discarded as irrelevant within Ironhide's own processor permeated Chromia's spark...

Chromia's optics shot open as a pair of black arms suddenly wrapped around her from behind, drawing her back into a broad chassis. She knew who it was immediately and just as immediately began struggling against him.

"Ironhide," she spat menacingly, managing successfully to make it sound like a curse.

She started kicking and growling as he began dragging her into a nearby closet without a word. A kick landed its mark hard into his bad knee and he grunted painfully. If Chromia were open to him, she would have felt a spike of irritation followed by a desire to yell at her for being irrational, which he immediately suppressed. He wanted her to open up to him, not drive her further away.

Once they were inside the closet and the door was closed, he let her struggle a moment more. He could easily overpower her while she was physically weak, but he was also careful not to make her feel that she was weak. He of all Cybertronians knew that there was nothing weak about her. Convincing her of that fact was going to be a challenge.

He spoke as soothingly as possible in her audio, "Please listen to me. I just want to talk."

He leaned his face down over her shoulder as he cupped her face with one hand and pulled her back into his chest as close as possible with the other. The room was dark, but he could see the soft glow of her optics and the glow of his own washed over her. He nuzzled her neck, pulling her face against his as he then nuzzled her cheek, his mouthplates brushing against her affectionately. After a few moments, he melted her resolve and felt her starting to relax in his arms.

Ironhide's spark was practically screaming at her and it was all he could do not to just turn her around and merge with her right then and there. She might have been blocking him, but there was no way she could keep him out of the bond while they were joined. He needed her in so many more ways than just that, though, and he needed to find the words to tell her so.

At the same time, he marveled at her; the depth of her strength was immeasurable in her ability to resist him now. Shutting him out had to be as much of a torture for her as it was for him. There was nothing more desperate than the need for two halves of the same spark to come together and feel whole.

"Don't shut me out," Ironhide murmured as he nuzzled her some more, relishing in the fact that he at least had her in his arms. He didn't mind holding her like this for as long as it took.

"Mia," he held her even tighter, "Please let me in. We didn't spend the last several thousand vorns apart to be this far apart now."

Chromia stirred, relaxing further into his chest as she brought a hand up to touch his face. She turned her face around far enough to make optic contact with him in her periphery. He looked as desperate as she'd ever seen him look.

"You haven't called me that in a long time," she said softly.

His optics brightened as a smile broke across his face.

"Mia," he whispered tenderly in her audio as she shuttered her optics. "My Mia..." A brush of warmth washed over the side of her face as he softly expelled warm air from his vents, his mouthplates gently pressing against her audio.

She relaxed into him fully this time, her end of the bond opening up in a rush of love and warmth that very nearly swept him off his feet. He had to widen his stance to keep from toppling over onto her.

Chromia listened to his vents, took in every whirring noise of his systems, and soaked in the passion of his spark as she briefly let herself go. She missed him; she missed him terribly. He missed her also, and his spark was shameless in its need. The hand caressing her face went down to caress her chassis. Chromia was certain that if there were an access panel in her back, they would already be joined. A shiver traveled through her systems, her spark trying to align itself with his as it openly called for him.

"That's involuntary, I'll have you know," Chromia said almost sharply, forcing herself back to her senses, making herself forget about how much she missed him, how much her fragging spark needed him, and to force him to acknowledge the problem at hand.

He said he was going to talk, but so far he was just bombarding her with his damndable soothing emotions. She wasn't about to let him have his way with her that easily. There was a period of time in his processor where he wasn't even thinking of her at all, and now he just expected that she'd roll over and open her chassis for him? She wanted answers...

Ironhide watched her as he could feel her suddenly fighting her own desire for him. She struggled with it for a moment and then he shamelessly fed the feeling, his chestplates clicking open of their own accord, taking him completely by surprise. He didn't mean for that to happen...

He felt her anger a split astrosecond before she hit him with a painful shock. He couldn't help but jump and stand up straighter, his continuous nuzzling of her neck, face, and shoulder coming to an abrupt end, but he did not let go of her.

"That's involuntary too," Ironhide said quickly, trying and failing to get his chestplates to close again. Chromia gave him a look that suggested she didn't believe him. He tried to defend himself, adding, "I swear to Primus!"

"You said you just wanted to talk," Chromia stated firmly, "So talk."

Ironhide held onto her, his spark becoming heavy with anxiety. He wasn't usually good with words. He really screwed up the last time he tried to talk to her, so he just stood there with her in his arms, trying to find the words she needed to hear, trying to find the words he needed to say.

He thought about when Chromia first woke up after he brought her out of terminal lock. He thought about how they didn't want to talk about it back then. That was the wrong thing to do. They had to figure this out...together.

Not sure where to start, Ironhide shifted his stance as he put his hand under her chassis and pressed his palm against the scar there. Chromia's spark cried out immediately, a jolt of anxious electricity shooting through her energon lines, making her shake uncontrollably. It wasn't the physical pain, but the mental anguish it represented. Her reaction was more intense than Ironhide already expected it would be. It pained him to send her in such a panic, and he almost removed his hand, but he needed to do this. He sent calming, soothing pulses to her spark, whispering softly in her audio that it was okay.

"This isn't helping, Ironhide!" she said, unable to keep the panic from her voice.

Ironhide finally spoke, "I want you to know what this means to me."

"Well, you know what it means to me, so stop!" she nearly pleaded.

Ignoring her plea, Ironhide continued, "This is a symbol of how strong you are. I thought I had lost you forever, but you survived. You lived through this. When the Allspark mission started, I wasn't afraid of losing you at first. I knew you were coming back to me. If you can survive this, then you can survive anything. It became a symbol to me that nothing can take you down, nothing can stop you."

As Ironhide spoke, Chromia's panic waned. He continued to send her calming sensations from his spark and his voice was soft and even. He felt a strange sense of resignation from her, which wasn't exactly the effect he was hoping for.

"I'm not as strong as you make me out to be," she said.

Ironhide tightened his embrace, the hand on her scar pressing firmer, "You're stronger than I make you out to be."

Not believing that and not wanting to hear it, Chromia started to shut him out again. Ironhide felt her retreating spark and his own spiked in panic. If his spark had fingers, Chromia could certainly feel them right then as he hugged her to him so hard, his spark practically grabbing onto hers.

"No!" His voice was desperate, "Please, I'm begging you; don't shut me out. You're hurting, Chromia. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing weak about that. Please let me help you. Primus knows I need you to help me."

Chromia snorted derisively, but she kept her end of the bond open, saying, "You need _me_ to help _you_? How? You discarded him. You discarded me!"

"I didn't discard anything," Ironhide said painfully. "I can't do this alone. I never could."

"I cannot find your memories of Sunshadow," Chromia's voice was pained as well. She then whispered, "I cannot find your memories of me." She shuttered her optics as she said, "You put us out of your thoughts. All I see is Bumblebee."

Ironhide shuttered his own optics, remembering distinctly how his fear of losing her began to build the longer the AllSpark mission drug on. They all knew it was going to be hard before it even started, but none of them realized how long the mission would last. More than once, during the mission, Ironhide wished he had insisted that Chromia come with them. There were so many unknowns, so many variables in what she could be going through, and it all started wearing on him as more and more time passed without her.

And he knew that Optimus had been questioning himself over the decision to leave their mates behind. Somehow, especially after the mission failed, remaining together became the best course of action, but it had been long too late. They were all separated from something in one way or another. Optimus regretted that, but he was determined to fix it as best he could, calling any remaining Autobots to Earth and hoping to Primus that Elita would be one of them. Chromia's arrival brought hope to both he and Ironhide. It was such a relief that one pair of them was finally reunited, especially after vorns of regret.

"We were separated for so long," Ironhide practically whispered. "I started to think that the scar was wrong." Ironhide's hand still rested on her scar. Suddenly, the words came to him in a flood, pouring from him as his spark sorrowed with the memory. "I couldn't feel you for so long. The more time passed, the more I was beginning to fear the worst. I wasn't doing so well and Ratchet was never really sure. It got to where I was never really sure. I couldn't handle it if I truly lost you. I was afraid that all I had left was Bumblebee, so I drowned my familial directory with every memory I had of him. It was the only way I could cope. It was the only way I could get up most orns."

As Ironhide spoke, Chromia's own spark broke in sorrow. She was listening now. She was listening with both her audios and her spark. She shook slightly as several soft sobs escaped her. If her suffering was any indication, she knew that he had to have been suffering as well. She just didn't realize the extent of which it went.

"I haven't forgotten anything about you or..." Ironhide hesitated before he finally spoke his sparkling's name out loud to her while she was awake to hear it. He had recently spoken it for the first time since they lost him, but she was unconscious at the time. "...or Sunshadow. I know what it's like to lose him. I just can't imagine losing you too." A slight smirk crossed his features as he thought about the terminal lock incident, adding, "At least not permanently, anyway."

Chromia couldn't help but smile between sobs, "Fragging Ratchet."

Chromia brought her arms up to hug Ironhide's arms around her tighter. As harsh as that was for Ratchet to do to them, they recognized it as something that helped them during that time. They never wanted to go through it again, though, and would never admit to Ratchet their perspective on the motivational qualities of it bringing together two estranged sparkmates. Ratchet probably already guessed that by their actions anyway.

There was still something about him drowning himself in Bumblebee that bothered her. "But Sunshadow can't be replaced, 'Hide." Her voice sounded small, as if she already knew by now that Ironhide really hadn't replaced Sunshadow with Bumblebee, but needed to hear him say it anyway.

Complying with her unspoken request, Ironhide spoke what she already knew, "I haven't replaced him." He began nuzzling her neck again, continuing, "It's all still there, Mia," His mouthplates brushed over her CPU port. He thought about connecting to show her exactly where to look in his memories, but stopped when he felt her tension from his attention there. Perhaps focusing on that while also focusing on her scar would be a little to much at this point; one step at a time. He decided to just tell her where to look. "What you are looking for is in the 'Ratchet' directory."

Ironhide felt Chromia's surprise from her spark before he heard it in her voice, "You have an entire directory just for Ratchet?"

She felt him nod his head against her cheek-plating as she searched for the directory from his CPU download. She saw several other directories she didn't recognize as well. She had been so focused on regaining memories of Sunshadow from his familial directory that she missed everything else. She didn't think to look anywhere else, as most Cybertronians didn't move their memories around like that. She didn't even realize he had made new directories when they shared their memories at the Lennox place. It was just something she wouldn't notice unless he pointed it out to her.

Nervously, Chromia opened up Ironhide's 'Ratchet' directory. What she found both surprised and startled her. Every memory of Sunshadow from creation to death was stored there, along with loving memories of her and Sunshadow together and harrowing memories of their struggles after he was lost to them. Ironhide's fears permeated every memory code. Everything about their initial recovery was included and there was code after code of memories of him seeking out Ratchet for help before and during the AllSpark mission, searching for some way to cope with his fears without resorting to deleting the sources of his fears. Ironhide was suffering greatly. There was so much he blamed himself for.

Nightfire's words flitting through Chromia's processor as fast as Ironhide's memories did, confirming that she, once again, had been right about them, _"You have forgiven each other, but you haven't forgiven yourselves." _Ratchet's words immediately echoed from Nightfire's, _"Look again, Chromia. He isn't any better off than you are."_

Chromia couldn't miss everything Ironhide felt about losing Sunshadow. He hadn't accepted it, by far. He hadn't healed without her like she feared. He hadn't replaced Sunshadow with Bumblebee at all. He hadn't even faced anything about it. What she felt from him was resignation, a surrender full of pain and sorrow that pierced his spark, a threat of madness that was only kept in check by the presence of Bumblebee.

Through it all, Chromia saw Ironhide's deep respect and vast reverence of Ratchet. He trusted Ratchet thoroughly, without any reservations or ill-regard for the mech. He held Ratchet in as high esteem as he held Optimus Prime. He loved Ratchet like a brother, and would give his life for him in an astrosecond if it came to that. He watched over him, just as protective of him as he was of Optimus and even Bumblebee. There were no other mechs that he held more dear than the three of them. Everything Ratchet had ever said to him, from his comments on Ironhide's vengeful quest all those vorns ago to his comments on continuing to hide Bumblebee from Chromia just a few orns ago, was recorded and kept. Ironhide listened to Ratchet, even if he didn't always follow what Ratchet was trying to say to him right away. There was all of this, and through it all, despite it all, Ratchet didn't even know it.

There was a poignant and endearing memory of Ironhide taking an inconsolable sparkling Bumblebee to Ratchet. It was the first time Ironhide let Bumblebee into his carrying hold, marking a turning point in Ironhide's recovery. Yet, despite that moment and despite everything he held for Ratchet and everything that Ratchet had helped him through, there was something missing. There was a hurdle that he could never transcend. Ratchet and Bumblebee helped him tremendously, but he relapsed often. There was always that final barrier that could never be broken through, prolonging his anguish and suffering. He needed Ratchet and Bumblebee, but who he truly needed, the only one that could truly help him like not other being in the universe, was Chromia. Yet, strangely enough, she was the one he hid his suffering from the most.

"Ratchet's been helping you?" she asked, feeling stupid for the question when the evidence was laid out so boldy before her.

Ironhide nodded his head, unsure of which parts of the directory she was seeing without being connected to her. He could feel the fluctuations of her spark as she accessed it all, several of her emotions flaring and waning to what he knew the content to be. She soothed him as he simultaneously soothed her. They would not be able to move on until they embraced it, not accept or resign themselves to what happened to them, to what happened to Sunshadow, but embrace it for what it is.

"I need you, Chromia. Will you help me? Will you let me help you? I think the only way we're going to get through this is together," Ironhide found it easier to find the words the more he spoke about it.

Chromia let out a soft chuckle, taking him by surprise. He wasn't quite sure how to take that.

"What? How is that funny?" he asked, somewhat taken aback.

"More than one medic besides Ratchet has tried to tell us that already," Chromia answered, unsure if bringing up Nightfire would set him off or not, but erring on the side of caution anyway. "Took us long enough to finally come to that conclusion ourselves."

Ironhide couldn't help but smile against her cheek-plating. "Yes it has," he agreed. His smile faded as he reflected on their words, "They were right."

Chromia's own smile faded before saying, "Yes, they were."

They stood in silence for awhile. Ironhide opted to give her several soothing mag pulses as she relaxed against the hand over her scar. She wasn't quite comfortable with it yet, but every bit of anxiety that she had about it had completely left her. She was finding strength in her vulnerability through her trust of him.

Chromia could feel Ironhide's spark basking in everything that was her. He was having a hard time keeping control, wanting nothing more than to give in to his need. His fingers started tracing circles on her chassis and little arcs of electricity jumped out from her to caress them every time they traced over the spot where her spark lay underneath.

"I'll never leave you again, I swear it," Ironhide vowed as he leaned over her even more. "Nobody, not even Optimus..."

Chromia looked down as he said that. He would follow Optimus to the ends of the universe. He did follow Optimus to the ends of the universe. The Prime was first and foremost in Ironhide's life and Chromia always understood that, but she had felt that Ironhide should have thought a little more about what the prolonged separation of the AllSpark mission was going to do to them before he just up and volunteered. He brought his tracing hand up to cup her face, bringing her head back up snugly against his. Obviously he had plenty of time to think about it during the mission and had rethought his decision.

Ironhide continued, "...Not Optimus, not even Primus himself can separate us again. I won't stand for it. I would give this all up for you, even being an Autobot."

Chromia's surprise came at him in a rush. Obviously he had thought long and hard about being separated while separated. His realization was that being separated wasn't worth it.

"I can't let you do that," her voice pitched in her surprise.

She turned in his arms to face him and an arc of electricity jumped out from his open chestplates. She realized facing him might not have been the best decision during a serious conversation while their sparks were so desperate. Had he gone for it, she would have happily merged with him right then, but he fought it, not wanting to rush themselves when they were so close to a breakthrough. Their suffering was eons old. They could deny their sparks for another joor in the hopes that they could experience a joining where the black hole wouldn't intimidate them.

Chromia caressed his face, tracing his long scar and gently swiping her fingers across his mouthplates, continuing, "You can't stop being an Autobot. Your loyalty is part of what I love about you. It's one of your most endearing qualities."

Ironhide shuttered his optics, bringing his forehead down to rest against hers. She had always accepted who he was no matter what. "And that's what I love about you," he said, chuckling softly, the meaning behind his words of her unconditional acceptance of him not being lost on her.

While Ironhide rested his forehead against hers, Chromia brought her other hand up to cup his face in both of her hands. All the things she had thought that he'd forgotten and discarded, he truly cherished. Her fears of him replacing Sunshadow were unfounded. He hadn't healed without her. It was quite the contrary. He wanted to heal with her, if there was any way to heal at all.

"I'm sorry for doubting you," Chromia whispered. "Will you forgive me?"

Ironhide leaned his head into one of her hands, enjoying the warmth of both of them against his face-plates. "There's nothing to forgive." He pressed his mouthplates against the palm of her left hand and then brought his arms up to capture her hands with his own. He brought them down, drawing them towards his chest over his spark.

Chromia shuttered her own optics, her spark simultaneously breaking with joy and sorrow. There was one whose forgiveness she would never know and her spark shook in grief. Ironhide let go of her hands and she kept them at his chest. He wrapped his arms around her as his spark reacted to her deep sadness, enveloping her with both his body and his spark, surrounding her with love and understanding. He knew there was something else she wanted to ask, something that had been weighing heavy on both of their sparks for eons.

"Do you think Sunshadow would forgive me?" Her words were so soft that Ironhide felt the question through their bond more than heard it. "Do you think he forgives me for bringing him into the universe, only to have him taken away so soon?"

Ironhide's own sorrow spilled over into Chromia's as she said those words. She could no longer keep it all in as she openly wept. Ironhide started shaking, becoming overwhelmed with emotion, and for the first time since they lost Sunshadow, he openly wept with her. It was a question he had asked himself many times. They created Sunshadow because they thought the peace was going to last. They thought the war was over, but it wasn't, and he died for their error. There were times when he wept alone. There were times when he wept over Chromia while she was in recharge. However, until now, he had never wept _with_ her.

The simple act of exuding their emotions in such a way, together and without inhibition, was strangely therapeutic. It was as if a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders, from their very sparks. Ironhide rubbed the back of Chromia's head and one of her hands had come up to rub his neck.

"He loved you unconditionally," Ironhide murmured softly, his voice soothing.

He was finding it so much easier to find the words the more and more he talked about it. He realized his words applied to himself just as much as to her and he found that what he was saying was making him feel better about it as well as her. Their sparkling loved him unconditionally as well.

"He would have never felt betrayed by you," Ironhide continued. "He would understand that it wasn't your fault."

Ironhide realized that Sunshadow probably understood better than anyone that it wasn't their fault.

"I don't know if I can forgive myself," Chromia said next. Nightfire's voice repeated itself in her head, _"You have forgiven each other, but you haven't forgiven yourselves."_

Ironhide blew air from his vents in a sigh. "I don't know if I can either, but now that we're talking about it, it might make it easier for us to."

Chromia looked up at him and he gave her a soft encouraging smile, his face dipping closer to hers as he studied the details of her optics. Primus, she was so beautiful. Her optics scanned the features of his face until they gazed into his again. She seemed to be searching for something.

"Do you ever regret creating him?" Chromia's voice continued to be soft, her optics pained despite a new lightness in their sparks.

Ironhide understood that she needed to get all this out, to voice her fears. He hesitated before answering, the question startling him, but only for a moment.

Chromia noticed an intensity in his optics a moment before he spoke, "I don't regret any of it. I wouldn't exchange the time we had together for anything."

What they had was precious. What little time they had with Sunshadow meant the universe.

Chromia immediately felt a twinge of guilt for her regret and Ironhide's apparent lack of it. If he didn't feel regret, then she shouldn't have felt it either. Ashamed of herself, she looked away.

Ironhide felt the sudden change in Chromia's spark. When she looked away, he ran his fingers under the base of her chin and brought her face back up to his.

"Don't get me wrong," he explained. "I felt regret for a long time, but then," Ironhide smiled warmly, "But then I got Bumblebee."

Chromia had accepted that Ironhide raised a youngling without her. She was angry about it, but she understood and forgave Ironhide in a lot of ways. However, she still wasn't sure how she would fit into Bumblebee's life as Ironhide's sparkmate. Ironhide was her sparkmate and Bumblebee's caretaker. That was never going to change. However, what was her role in Bumblebee's life? What was Bumblebee's role in hers? She knew what Bumblebee wanted her role to be, but she didn't know if she could do it. Bumblebee's words ran through her mind like a revelation, _"I don't think I can live up to what he was to you...but, do you have room in your spark for me?"_

Wanting to touch her with more than his hands, Ironhide's mouthplates made soft contact against her forehead. Then he moved to the bridge of her olfactory sensors. He brushed over her cheekplating very near to her own mouthplates, at which point he rolled his mouth over hers, drawing on her lip components as if he could coax her essence into his spark by consuming her. Both of their sparks quickened at the contact before Ironhide broke it.

"He can help you too, Mia. He has this ability to make everyone around him happy." Ironhide's spark practically soared with elation as he spoke.

"I don't deserve to be happy," Chromia whispered, still holding on to her convictions.

Ironhide could tell she was holding on, but he knew she was close to letting go. He could feel it building in her very spark. He wasn't giving up, and she was listening to him with her entire being.

"You do, Chromia," Ironhide continued. "You deserve it more than anything. It's possible, you know. It's possible for you to be happy." Ironhide chuckled at the elation building in Chromia's spark at his mention of her happiness being possible. He smiled freely, his optics twinkling in delight. "It's possible for you to be very happy."

Chromia finally smiled. It was a genuinely happy smile, not one of sardonic mirth or the one she put on while satisfied with vengeful outcomes, but a truly happy smile. Ironhide hadn't seen a smile like that since the last time he saw her playing with Sunshadow.

"You said his name," she nearly giggled.

Ironhide chuckled, "Which one? Sunshadow or Bumblebee?"

Chromia gasped as a new realization hit her. It was a wonderful, all encompassing, marveling realization about Ironhide that solidified her already undying love for him. The way he said that...

She was so blind before. It was as if she were seeing for the first time. Ironhide, indeed, had not replaced Sunshadow with Bumblebee. She had already seen that he saw them both as two separate entities. What she hadn't realized is that he saw them both as _his_. In Ironhide's mind, he had two sparklings. One was just as precious as the other. They were both his. If Sunshadow had lived, he would have been raised as Bumblebee's sibling. A door opened up in her mind, in her spark, and she immediately stepped through it. Ironhide had two sparklings and she was Ironhide's sparkmate, so she had two sparklings too. They had two sparklings, and one of them was still very much alive.

"Say their names again," her optics were beaming with joy, her chest glowing with her spark's elation.

As if she wasn't already close enough, Ironhide pulled her closer. "Sunshadow and Bumblebee," he complied with her request, shrugging slightly as if it were the most natural combination in the universe to him.

Ironhide heard Chromia's chestplating open an astrosecond before she sprang to life, taking him completely by surprise. She jumped away from him, pushing him backwards with both hands. It wasn't quite enough to throw him off balance, but doing so in combination with her next move sent him falling back off his feet. As she pushed him, she hooked her right leg behind his right ankle and yanked. She met his surprised look with a mischievous smile as he started to fall backwards, and then she threw her chest into his. Their sparks were merged together in a shower of all-encompassing euphoric ecstasy before they even hit the floor...

888888888888888

There was...

...The One.

The One, They, Their, Them, The Whole, Two Halves, It, Itself...These were all the same entity.

The One...

They...

Their...

Them...

The Whole...

Two Halves...

It...

Itself...

The One was just there...Simply existing. Simply One.

The One was Two Halves of The Whole that, at moments like this, only knew the other, only knew The One, thinking as One, feeling as One. Nothing else mattered...yet, everything mattered....

...The One transcended time and space, drifting through an expanse of emotion created by  
Them... created for Them... recreating Them...

...Happiness, Contentment, Passion, Compassion, Desire, and Euphoria swirled within and around The One as celestial bodies of their own...Belonging to nothing but The One, within The One, outside of The One.

Two Halves of One were in perfect equilibrium. The Two Halves of One drifted...loving, passionate, existing in perfect harmony. Happiness was perfectly harmonized within Itself.

Where Grief usually interrupted Their harmony, where Sadness wouldn't be ignored, where Regret would find The One time and again, where Guilt used to throw the orbit off, there was now only Acceptance, Forgiveness, Embracement and deep, unfaltering, Love.

The One felt only these entities as something else loomed before them. However, this time, They did not falter. The One was not interrupted in Its contentment of being Whole this time.

---

There was...

...The Void.

The Void, The Dark, Darkness, The Dark Giant, The Black Mass, The Black Hole...These were all the same entity.

The Void...

The Dark...

Darkness...

The Dark Giant...

The Black Mass...

The Black Hole...

The Void no longer seemed dark and heavy, no longer felt deep and foreboding, no longer carried an ominous damnation. The Void usually demanded Their attention, and now They were giving it.

Whereas before They had always tried to ignore it, They were now acknowledging it. The Void no longer had the power to disrupt Their harmony. They were no longer afraid of it. They were no longer haunted by it. They were no longer fearful that Their universe was at an end...

The Void did not always exist in Their universe. The Void was forced on The One, formed by a sudden collapse. Since then, The Void had been there, becoming a horror within The One. However, where Darkness had prevailed, where Avoidance, Disregard, Anger, Fear, Abandonment, Guilt, and Denial had loomed, only Unconditional Love remained.

They continued to be held together by Love and Devotion, Contentment and Passion. Guilt and Regret, Fear and Anger were forces that could no longer pull Them apart.

---

There had been...

...The Creation.

The Creation, The Star, The Light... These were all the same entity.

The Creation...

The Star...

The Light...

The Void represented certain death of a massive Star in Their universe...The Star that was created by The One...Unlike the celestial bodies created through The One's emotions, The Creation was different. The Creation had existed outside of Their universe as real as The Creation existed within. The Creation was a part of Them from within and without, as individuals of The Two Halves and as The One. As The One, The Creation existed as its own small galaxy within Their universe. The Creation within Their universe had revolved around The One, and The One had revolved around The Creation.

The Star of The Creation was no longer the brilliant Light that The One had created...All that remained in its place was The Void...

Stellar masses revolved around The Creation as celestial bodies of emotion that were formed from both The One and The Creation: feelings each had for the other. These celestial masses, like The Star, were created, and The One came to a sudden realization that had always been there, but that They never noticed.

Those celestial masses were not dead. These celestial bodies, once luminous and thriving, were no longer illuminated by The Creation's light. However, they were no longer as dark and foreboding as The Void had once been.

Love was the most massive, now darkened, celestial body still orbiting The Void...unconditional Love that The Creation had for The One. The One approached it with Their new knowledge of it, Happiness exuding from Them.

The Creation was not dead. The Creation was just changed.

Whereas before They did one of two things: got sucked into The Black Hole or avoided it...Now They embraced it. It just was... It existed in Their universe just as They did. The Void could no longer pull Them into Anguish. It was a part of who They were. It was even an integral part of what They had become now. The One was more complete than It had ever been since It's universe began.

They became aware of nonexistent time and even an infinite amount of time would not have been enough for Them to spend in Their universe.

The Black Hole no longer lay in the path of Their future.

8888


	49. Moving On

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Eternal thanks to the reviewers of chapter 48:

**[Review Alert]:** **Lecidre, lady tecuma, Xerios, ice around the moon, Violetlight, theshadowcat, 1bloodtempest, CuteKittten, Faecat, Jadedfalcon, Bluebird Soaring, LadyJet2, plenoptic, flamingmarsh**, **i-love-me-some-leggypoo**, and **Flameshield**.

Responses to reviews for ch. 48 have been moved to 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' on my biopage.

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: LadyMoth, Queen Crystal**

**[Story Alert]: Dubious Serenity, elisabeth11collins22, chilindra**

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You folks are awesome. Thank you!

**Visiting countries** during the month of **September, 2009**: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Poland, Singapore, Norway, Germany, Portugal, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Estonia, Hungary, South Korea, Sweden, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Finland, South Africa, Asia/Pacific Region, Chile, Ireland, Russia, Philippines, Denmark, Argentina, Peru, Italy, and Lithuania. Awesome!

**Disclaimer:** All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow and the Decepticon Nightfire belong to Litahatchee/ Letohatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity, grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo**. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma. **The characters are different in each of our stories, but the name is hers.

I have a story recommendation. It's titled **'Science and Fiction'** by **Faecat. **This story takes a fangirl and throws her into the TF universe as if it's real. The author incorporates movieverse along with several ideas from authors in fanfiction. It's a truly enjoyable read.

This chapter is entirely in the present. Normal print is the present. This is immediately following chapter 48.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 49

Moving On

by Litahatchee

"_Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory.  
Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember.  
We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future."  
_

Lewis B. Smedes

---

Chromia felt...at peace. She couldn't recall a time when she felt so peaceful. It was a feeling that permeated every byte of her being. Everything that Ironhide had said, had done, completely opened her mind. She understood, with certainty, the truth of their hardships and there was a freedom that came with that understanding that she never realized she could have, a freedom that she never realized that either one of them could have after everything they'd been through.

Several memories of Nightfire presented themselves again and she recalled the first time Nightfire had given her the mag pulse theropy in the mere orns following their loss.

_"This won't mean much to you right now," she said to Chromia,"but I'm going to see to it that you get through this. This is going to make you stronger."_

Those words were far from any comfort so soon after Sunshadow's death, but Chromia now fully understood what Nightfire had meant by them. Chromia was not destroyed by the darkness of Megatron because of her own physical strength and help from those around her. It was her own inner darkness that would destroy her, and Nightfire knew that before it even manifested itself into the danger that it became for Chromia.

Nightfire knew that when Chromia would overcome her inner forces of darkness, then she would acquire an inner strength equal to her outer strength. When Chromia would realize this part of herself, then she would become an integrated whole. The same was true of Ironhide. All that time that Nightfire had tried to get through to her and all the eons that had passed since her death, and Chromia just now realized what she had been trying to do.

Nightfire knew that if both Chromia and Ironhide realized this about themselves, then the integrated whole that each of them would become would strenghthen their sparkbond beyond imagining.

Even more than that, Chromia realized how right Nightfire was about Sunshadow living within them. He truly was alive in their universe. They just had to open their optics to see him, to see the part of him that they would carry with them always.

Chromia thought of another short exchange between her and Nightfire that didn't have any meaning for her at the time, but now spoke volumes to her psyche.

_"All I see is death," _Chromia had said.

_"Don't forget to look at those you love and see life," _Nightfire had responded.

Chromia expelled air in happy disbelief. Even those that were dead could be seen as life.

Chromia felt her scar, marveling at the meaning that Ironhide revealed to her that it was to him, marveling that she could now touch it without feeling scared or weak inside. She truly did feel stronger. She truly did feel whole within her own self, apart from the wholeness that she felt with Ironhide, but no less because of him. Her mind felt free and her love for Ironhide soared to new heights that she didn't even know was possible.

Chromia unshuttered her optics and looked at her sparkmate. He recharged soundly next to her, one of his hands gripping one of hers loosely. Every now and then she felt him squeeze it, and she wondered if he knew he was doing that. She couldn't say he looked entirely peaceful. He'd definitely had a hard life and every part of him showed that. She couldn't help but smirk a little bit, as the best way she could think to describe him at that moment was that he looked satisfied. Beyond that, though, he looked content. He looked as content as she'd ever seen him and she could feel it in his spark.

In fact, she could see it in his spark, as he hadn't even bothered to close his chest plating. His spark shone brightly in the dark room and her fingers ghosted over the outer field of it as she was drawn to its beauty, watching as it pulsed in time with her own. Ironhide stirred slightly and she removed her hand. She didn't want to wake him. Primus knew he needed to rest. This was probably the most restful recharge he'd been in in eons.

Ironhide squeezed the hand that he was still holding and Chromia paused, afraid she had woken him after all. But, his optics remained closed and nothing in his systems indicated he was coming online. Chromia looked at his hand and smiled, a giddy feeling washing over her that he was so conscious of her even in his subconscious. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out how she had ever questioned his memory of her. His love and awareness of her extended beyond his consciousness. Even his spark seemed to be caressing her as he lay in his recharge state.

Chromia lightly touched his cheek-plating, her entire frame filling with warmth as she caressed him back through their bond. His spark brightened and her smile grew even wider. She really didn't want to wake him, but she found she couldn't keep her hands off of him. She wanted to feel him with everything she had. She could feel him in her spark. She wanted to feel him with her hands too. She fully cupped his cheek-plating and lightly rubbed his optic ridges with her thumb. She rubbed his audios, ran her fingers over his olfactory sensors, and traced his mouthplates. When her hand wasn't enough to touch him with, she pressed her cheek-plating against his, and then her forehead, and then her mouthplates. She caressed his neck and rubbed his shoulder, lightly dragging her hand along his arm until she reached his hand. She traced over each of his fingers, a soft laughter coming over her as she remembered him counting hers so long ago. She counted his as she traced them, just for the heck of it.

One...

Two...

Three...

Four...

Five...

While she showered him with affection, she accessed his memories of raising Bumblebee. With each new loving memory she looked at, her affection for Ironhide deepened and her physical caresses of him increased in pressure until she thought she might just join with him without giving him a chance to wake up.

The way he completely and totally took Bumblebee in as his own astounded her. He even carried Bumblebee in his carrying hold. Bumblebee had told her about that already, but Chromia couldn't see past her anger at the time. Putting aside the fact that he kept something so precious from Chromia, Ironhide never ceased to amaze her. Finding out something so wonderful about a being that she, for all intents and purposes, should know everything about rekindled a passion within her that she didn't realize she'd lost. Ironhide was her sparkmate, but he could still surprise her with his boundless compassion. Allowing another's sparkling into his carrying hold spoke volumes of a kindness that he preferred to hide and that few Cybertronians even knew he possessed. She absolutely adored him for it.

Ironhide stirred, waking to a more satisfying wholeness than he had felt in a long time. His bond with Chromia felt open and free. Since they were no longer trying to close off certain parts of their universe, he no longer felt bound by it. He felt so...alive with her presence. It was the only way he could think to describe it. He felt her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. She was rubbing on him with her other hand, and his spark was taking notice as it practically burst from his chest in happiness.

"I think I've died and gone to the Matrix," Ironhide murmured softly.

Chromia stilled and Ironhide could feel a twinge of regret from her that she'd woken him.

"Oh, don't stop," he said. "I really like that."

Chromia laughed, any regret she was feeling draining from her just as quickly as it came. She brought her hand back up to caress his face. "Oh really?" she teased.

"Mm hmm," he hummed contentedly, his spark pulsing brightly in his chassis.

Ironhide was already laying on his back, but Chromia imagined that if he could lay back any further, he would have in order to expose every part of himself that he could to her touches. He was so relaxed that Chromia could probably do anything to him and he'd accept it happily, even if she were to decide to shoot him.

Chromia's smile couldn't get any wider as he softly moaned contentedly, his spark caressing her through their bond. She was laying on her side next to him and she propped herself up on her elbow to scoot over the top of him. He wrapped his arms around her, rubbing his face against hers as her head dipped over the crook of his neck while he filled their bond with all-encompassing love. Chromia laughed again and his spark soared with the sound. She pushed herself up on his chest to gaze into his optics.

"You raised a youngling," Chromia said. Her tone wasn't accusing; it was that of adoration. Even her optics were sparkling.

"Mm hmm," Ironhide sounded, tracing over her spinal support column, finding he couldn't keep his hands off of her either.

A shiver spread through Chromia's frame. She rested her forehead on his, continuing, "You raised him by yourself."

Ironhide chuckled, bringing a hand up to caress her face as his other found its way under the armor of her lower back to rub her protoform.

"Well, I had help," he corrected, though he knew she didn't care if he considered himself having help or not.

Chromia blew off his statement. Ironhide was Bumblebee's sole caretaker, so as far as she was concerned, he raised him by himself. Sure, he probably had a little help, but she was admiring Ironhide at the moment, not those that had been around him while he took on the responsibility.

Chromia's intakes hitched as a jolt of pleasure traced up the neural pathways of her back. A self-satisfied grin crossed Ironhide's face at her reaction of his attention to her lower back. Chromia retaliated by digging her fingers into the wiring in his neck, grabbing hold of a support strut there and slowly tugging on it. Her own self-satisfied grin formed as her attentions made his intakes hitch.

"You flushed his tanks and everything by yourself," she said.

Ironhide chuckled again, "Yes."

Chromia's optics lit up in delight, her fingers brushing the port on the back of his neck. "I want to see that," she said, connecting to his port without further warning.

Even though a CPU connection could be and usually was benign, especially since it was used to transfer information with any Cybertronian, Ironhide felt a thrill race through him that it was her that was connected to him at all. Any connection with his sparkmate was thrilling and he let her know it with a soft, seductive growl. Her framed warmed marginally at the sound of him.

The thought of Ironhide dealing with the ups and downs of raising a sparkling was delightfully endearing. Chromia imagined him flushing the little bot's tanks by himself and couldn't help but snicker. He knew what to do, of course, as he had had Sunshadow. It was just that he had never done it without her help. She remembered a joke she shared with Elita one time where they wondered how their mates would manage flushing their future sparklings' tanks without them. They had had a big laugh at the time, thinking that their mates wouldn't be able to handle it. Chromia wished Elita were here now so that she could reveal to her that Ironhide, of all mechs, had, indeed, handled something like that on his own.

Ironhide presented to Chromia every positive thing he could find in his CPU on Bumblebee. She had all the memories already, but offering them to her in such a way was more intimate than just having her find them on her own. Several unanswered questions of his abrupt reassignments in the past finally made sense to her.

"Is this why you went to Artemis I?" she asked. Her earlier suspicions of him having full custody of Bumblebee by the time he was assigned to Artemis I seemed to be true. They were trying to isolate the sparkling so that very few would find out about him and so that very few could get to him.

Ironhide nodded his head, the thrill of her in his mind becoming a tingling need to be further connected to her in other ways. She was excited to see his memories of Bumblebee and her love and desire for him seemed to grow with every one. He fed that desire, feeling her spark's excitation sweep over his. He offered her several memories of Sunshadow as well, feeling her love swell upon seeing her sparkmate doting so lovingly over their sparkling.

A particular memory code caught her rapt attention and then she realized that it was connected to a string of memories.

"What is Little Dide?" she asked, utterly mesmerized by Sunshadow's complete occupation with it.

Ironhide's expression changed for a moment as shock that she didn't know what Little Dide was crossed his features. It was only a moment, though. He knew she had forgotten a lot, had deleted a lot. He might be shocked by what she was missing, as he truly didn't know, but he was happy that she was trying to get what she could back. His own hand grazed the back of her neck and when he didn't meet any resistance, he connected to her CPU as well. He wanted to find the memories in his CPU download in her CPU as he was presenting them to her from his CPU, so that she would know exactly where to find them if she wanted to look again later.

Ironhide showed her the memory of him making a toy based off of his Cybertronian alt mode. It became Sunshadow's favorite toy. They could scarcely get him to let go of it. Sunshadow called it his 'Little Dide.' Chromia recognized the toy immediately, but she didn't remember Sunshadow playing with it at all, much less that it was his favorite toy. She remembered finding the toy in their domicile back on Cybertron and bringing it back to the med bay where she gave it to Nightfire, but that's all she knew of it. She couldn't believe how much she apparently deleted. She became saddened by what she deleted, wondering what all else she had lost, but willing to move forward with what she still had and wanting to gain back what she could from the memories Ironhide still possessed.

Ironhide could feel her sadness, but also her resolve to move forward. He soothed her, filling her with warmth and understanding, not letting her think for a second that she had done anything wrong by deleting those memories.

"I miss him so much," Chromia said after awhile.

"I miss him too," Ironhide said. "He was everything that you are. I love you, Mia. I don't want to spend another breem without you."

Love and warmth irradiated from Ironhide's spark, from every circuit in Ironhide, filling every part of her. He tentatively touched her scar and she found that she now welcomed his touch there. He traced over it lightly with his fingers and then rubbed it more firmly with his thumb. A strange tantalizing thrill raced through Chromia's frame, surprising them both.

Feeling her spark awaken to his touch, Ironhide repositioned himself to his side, gently rolling her from on top of him next to his side onto her back. They both disconnected from their CPUs with the movement. He felt a slight disappointment in losing that connection to her, but he wasn't discouraged in the least as he traced over the side of her neck before cupping the back of it with his hand again, reconnecting without feeling any reservations at all from her. He wanted to try something and her curiosity was boundless.

Ironhide rested his hand over her scar, pressing his palm into it as he would if she still had a port there. He then sent thoughts of interfacing into her mind, following those up with memories of how interfacing between them used to feel. Chromia let out a whimper and at first Ironhide thought he had gone too far, that she might not want to remember something she could no longer do. He became fearful that what he was doing was reminding her just what it was that they could no longer do. He started to pull back when both her hands clamped down over his against her scar, her back arching slightly into it as another whimper escaped her, this time leaving no question in his processor that she was enjoying this.

Ironhide relaxed next to her, putting more pressure against her scar as he leaned over her frame to sensuously massage the wiring in her neck with his mouthplates. He flooded her CPU with memories of them exploring each other's circuits during interfacing and was delightfully surprised to hear her moan. He then felt an explosion of pleasure from her through their bond. Taken completely by surprise, he paused in uncertainty. He couldn't tell if she was deriving pleasure from his attention to her scar or if it was ghosts of pleasure that she was feeling from the memories.

Chromia found that she didn't care how it was happening. She was just excited that it was. "Don't stop, you fool," she pleaded.

Her frame was trembling and her chest was glowing with her spark's arousal, opening of its own accord. She was completely and totally open to him. There was no fight in her whatsoever. Having her this vulnerable was both disconcerting and exciting to him. He could completely and totally possess her and she wanted him to. Yet, it was Chromia who possessed him, as he was completely enthralled with her beauty and entranced by her spark. Ironhide's own spark was pulsing rapidly in his chest, his next thoughts being only to be merged with her, to be connected with her in every way he could.

Chromia felt the hand behind her neck gripping against her CPU port tighter. She gasped pleasurably, shuttering her optics when she felt his other hand drag upwards across her abdomen from her scar to her spark casing. He began rubbing the back of her neck as he rhythmically rubbed her spark casing, enjoying the soft wanton whimpers she released with each caress. He nudged aside the translucent protective covering of her spark and let out his own wanton moan as several tendrils reached out, pulling on his hand.

Chromia reached between them, wedging her hand between his legs and grabbing his interfacing cable. He barked out a growl of surprise and pleasure, nearly dropping his chest into hers right then and there. She pulled her hand over the length of his cable before releasing it to reach into his open chestplates. Ironhide let out a loud moan as tingling waves of excitation swept across his frame and his spark. He pulled his frame fully over the top of hers. He couldn't wait another astrosecond to be joined with her.

Not breaking the connection with her CPU, he cupped the back of her head with both hands, holding it firmly yet tenderly as his thumbs swept lovingly over her face. Numerous tendrils of their sparks found each other in the close space between them, intertwining and dancing together, sending waves of euphoria through their bond, their sparks and their frames from their fingers to their toes. Still conscious of each of their halves, the half that was Ironhide sent the sheer bliss that he was feeling to the CPU of the half that was Chromia. She cried out, the universe spinning in swirls of astounding emotion. Wishing for Ironhide to experience the fullness of what she was experiencing, she desperately connected her CPU cable to his interfacing port. Energy exploded through all three connections, catapulting them to a peak of exquisite rapture. Ironhide roared in ecstasy and pushed his chest fully into hers, their sparks rejoicing in the wholeness that was Ironhide and Chromia, becoming One.

They existed as One within their universe, Love suddenly becoming a tangible entity. Love embraced Them, then Passion, followed by every entity They created within Their universe since the beginning. This was a new feeling, yet They had felt it once before. It was all ecompassing, taking The One to new heights of awareness of Their universe. It was more than that. It took Them beyond Their universe even. Everything began swirling together, in a dance of absolute Joy that suddenly transcended into an astounding ethereal state. Then...

...an explosion of stellar proportions as the Void suddenly went Supernova. Both halves of The One cried out in exhilarated euphoria beyond which few beings ever achieve in their lifetimes, even that of sparkmates. The One was surrounded by light. It was everywhere. Their universe became nothing but Light, being Light, embodied by Light. No Darkness remained. Something had changed and there was no word left to describe the elation that The One was now in. It was beyond description, beyond defining. It just...was.

As Ironhide's spark separated from Chromia's, all they could do was gaze upon each other in astonishment. They were both at a loss for words. Their sparks were at a loss for feelings. Finally, Chromia's spark burst with emotion and Ironhide wrapped his arms around her, embracing her with his spark. They had felt this once before, but didn't dare to hope.

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Feeling a little drained, Ratchet made his way to the one place on the Ark where he could get himself some energon. Thinking again on how much he liked the peace and quiet, he entered the room and flipped on the lights...

Ratchet froze dead in his tracks. Laying on the floor, not too far from the entrance, were two bots entangled in each other's arms, their chest-plating far from being closed.

When the room became illuminated, Ironhide and Chromia were getting ready to spark merge once again. They stopped immediately, looking towards the entrance of the room to see what the interruption was this time.

Upon seeing Ratchet, Ironhide rose to his feet, bringing Chromia up with him. Ratchet just stared at them at first, his momentary surprise of finding them here draining as he took notice of how much better they looked. He was thinking that, from the looks of them, he was catching them after the fact, rather than before. Or maybe he was catching them after the fact and before the fact. They had probably initiated more than one joining and were going for another one. Ratchet looked around the contents of the room, his demeanor becoming more serious, despite the fact that he couldn't be happier for them.

Ratchet leveled a stern, steady gaze at them, saying, "I didn't mean for you two to be merging just anywhere! Go to your fragging quarters!"

Ironhide found that he had had enough. It seemed that no matter where he wanted to bond with his mate, they were constantly getting caught. Though, at least he had been able to merge with her a couple times before getting caught this time.

"Can't a bot get any privacy on this planet?! This ship is huge, yet here you are, barging into the same closet that we're in," Ironhide ranted, leveling Ratchet with a glare of his own.

"What the frag, Ironhide? You've been on this ship for how long?" Ratchet said rhetorically. "This is not a closet. You are in the only storage room that all five of us have need for. Someone was bound to walk in sooner or later. And what the frag are you thinking joining in here? Burning down barns is one thing, but if you blow up the Ark..."

Ironhide stopped listening to Ratchet as he looked around and realized his mistake. There was a closet next to this room, but obviously he had pulled Chromia through the wrong door. They were in the Energon Containment Area. Energon was stored in this room for one purpose, to protect the ship from accidental explosions. The room was lined with extra thick walls to keep any explosions from spreading from the room through the ship and to keep any explosions outside of the room from getting in. Ironhide dismissed Ratchet's last statement as him just rubbing in the barn incident. If he and Chromia had caused any of the energon to explode, no fires would have escaped the room to blow up the entire Ark. Though, it wouldn't have been good for their energon stores.

Ironhide gave Ratchet an amused expression, which Ratchet, surprisingly, returned. Ironhide then made a show that he was looking around for something.

"Where is Optimus?" he asked.

Ratchet's expression became serious again as he seriously began to answer. However, before he could say anything, Ironhide pulled a startled Chromia against his chest.

"He is the only one that hasn't caught us yet," Ironhide said mischievously. He then added haughtily, "I tell you what, invite him over and tell him which room we're in so that he can walk in on me while I join with my mate."

Ironhide was only joking, of course, but the way everyone that meant anything to him in his life kept walking in on him, it was fun to joke that he could just get it over with with Optimus. Ratchet got the joke and let out a hearty laugh.

"Ironhide?!" Chromia pushed away from him in incredulous shock, sending him a physical shock that was so sharp he jumped, letting out a painful yelp as he did so.

Right at that exact moment, a confused looking Bumblebee rounded a corner in the hallway, heading in the direction of the energon storage room to refuel himself, but completely oblivious of anyone that was already there. He was rubbing his chassis over his spark, looking around him as he wondered why in this world his spark just received a vicious shock.

Bumblebee finally looked up as he neared the entrance and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Ratchet, Ironhide, and Ironhide's sparkmate standing there staring at him. He just stared back, unsure of what to say. Then he noticed Ironhide rubbing his chassis as well and an annoyed look on Chromia's face that was directed at Ironhide.

"Was that from you?!" Bumblebee exclaimed towards Chromia as understanding dawned on him. He had no idea that bots with spark bonds could do something like that to each other. He felt the guilt in her spark as she glared at Ironhide, as if it was Ironhide's fault that she shocked the Pit out of him. Bumblebee realized that it probably was. Bumblebee's optics beamed as he announced, "That was awesome!"

Chromia stared at him in disbelief and then threw another glare at Ironhide. She refrained from shocking him again for fear that she'd shock the youngling again too, not that the youngling seemed to mind very much.

"Congratulations," she said to Ironhide. "You've raised a masochist."

Ironhide's mouth fell open, "Don't insult him; he doesn't understand how this works." Ironhide motioned between their sparks, indicating that Bumblebee didn't understand how spark bonds work between sparkmates.

"And who's fault is that?" Chromia continued, looking pointedly at Ironhide and then at Ratchet too. Chromia looked back at Ironhide, jabbing a finger in his chest, "And I'm not insulting him. I'm insulting _you_."

Bumblebee laughed and Ironhide gave him a hurt look, which only made Bumblebee laugh even more. Bumblebee wasn't really much of a fan of pain. In fact, he preferred to avoid it if at all possible. He just thought it was awesome that he could feel Chromia's shock to Ironhide in his own spark. He thought the exchange that followed because of his reaction to it was too entertaining to interrupt. He was so happy that he had a spark bond with someone that would be so open to him and he was utterly fascinated by the idea of sparkmates. It was even more fascinating watching his normally rough and tough caretaker get dealt with by this femme. It was a side of Ironhide that he didn't even know existed.

Chromia grabbed a cube of energon and handed it to the youngling. She then put her arm around his shoulder and steered him out the door.

"Looks like he's the one that doesn't understand," Chromia said to Bumblebee, but loud enough so Ironhide heard her. Bumblebee laughed again.

Ironhide watched them as they walked down the hall, laughing together and sharing a cube of energon. He smiled. Things were going to be all right. He just knew it.

Ironhide turned back to Ratchet. "Seriously, where is Optimus? I don't think I've seen him since Chromia arrived."

Optimus had told Ratchet to tell Ironhide what he was doing if Ironhide asked, so he said, "He's with the Lennox's, working to negotiate with the military."

Ironhide's spark sank. He had been neglecting his duties, and now Optimus had to fill in for him. He hated that.

Ratchet placed a hand on his shoulder. He knew Ironhide very well. He knew what Ironhide would be thinking upon hearing the news. "It's okay, Ironhide. Optimus doesn't think you're neglecting your duties. He understands you need time with Chromia."

Ironhide seemed to relax a little, but only just a little. He'd feel much better about it when someone else wasn't doing his job for him.

"Besides," Ratchet continued, smiling. "The Army really likes him. They say he makes less holes in the facility."

"Well, if they didn't make me so mad, I wouldn't have to blow anything up," Ironhide responded in all seriousness.

Ratchet laughed. As much as he didn't like it that Ironhide resorted to shooting things when he was angry, he couldn't help but find amusement in Ironhide's liaison role with the humans. Ironhide would be Ironhide, no matter what role he was supposed to be playing.

"Whenever you and Chromia are ready, we are all to meet Optimus at the Lennox homestead," Ratchet added once he was done laughing.

Ironhide nodded his head, looking in the direction that Chromia and Bumblebee had disappeared to. "We'll be ready within the orn."

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	50. The Search For Peace

**Disclaimer:** All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow and the Decepticon Nightfire belong to Litahatchee/ Letohatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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This chapter is entirely in the present. Normal print is the present. There is a small flashback from chapter 6, which is in italics. This chapter is immediately following chapter 49.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 50

The Search For Peace

by Litahatchee

Bumblebee helped Ratchet secure the Ark. Optimus had been wanting to meet with them all for orns. He had been remarkably patient in waiting for Ironhide and Chromia to reacquaint themselves and had shown his further dedication to them by allowing them more time, especially when Ratchet expressed hopefulness in them finally coming to terms with the loss of their sparkling. They had no idea the extent to which Optimus knew what they were going through, but Ratchet reported to him every day on what he knew of their status. Optimus would never interfere in something so important and his own meeting with and questions of Chromia could wait.

Sam was in the middle of his college mid-terms, so there was no need to sit around in the parking lot there. Bumblebee could have waited with Optimus at Will's place, but his curiosity over Ironhide's mate had him returning to the Ark instead. He hadn't gotten to spend much time with her yet, but just being around her was good enough for him.

It seemed that the time for waiting was over. As soon as Ironhide found out what Optimus was doing, hardly a few joors had passed before he declared they were heading back to the Lennox's.

Bumblebee approached Ironhide and Chromia where they were waiting for he and Ratchet outside of the Ark. They seemed to be discussing something and he stopped when he heard that their voices were raised...They were in a heated discussion about the humans.

Deciding not to be a part of that argument, Bumblebee turned around and walked the other way. Bumblebee had a feeling that Chromia wouldn't react well if she found out what the humans did to him, though it was probably something she was going to learn about very soon anyway. Perhaps Ratchet needed him to double check the Ark's security...

---

"You mean, he's with the humans," Chromia said more than asked, not bothering to hide her disapproval. There was something about the humans, in general, that she didn't like. It felt more like the humans were just using them. She needed to speak with Optimus, of course, but she'd rather talk with him on the Ark, somewhere where it wasn't so alien and uncomfortable.

"He's taken my position in my absence," Ironhide explained.

"Your position? As a liaison?" she snorted derisively. "I thought that was some sort of joke he must have pulled on you. You are the least diplomatic of any Cybertronian here, including the Decepticons."

Chromia still had a nagging feeling that there was something more to the reason Optimus chose Ironhide for this assignment rather than Ratchet, who, as the chief emissary to the High Council of the Ancients, was much better suited for the job.

Ironhide scoffed at her, "I'm sure he finds some humor in the assignment, but we do take it seriously."

"This entire planet is composed of dirt. Even the organics that inhabit it are composed of dirt," Chromia kicked lightly at the ground, making a dust cloud rise up and blow away with the wind. "Their lives are way too short to take them seriously..."

"Don't mock what we are trying to do here," Ironhide interrupted her.

Ironhide understood where she was coming from. He didn't understand why they were fighting for the humans at first either. He knew that she didn't wish them any harm, but she did feel like they were wasting their time trying to please them. It took Ironhide a little while to realize that it wasn't a waste of time himself. He still questioned it every now and then. Maybe it was a waste of time, but if living with the Lennox family taught him anything, it was that it was worth a try if there were more sentient family units around like that one. She was just going to need some time to get used to the idea.

"What _are_ we trying to do here?" Chromia's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Optimus thinks we can find peace on this planet," Ironhide said after a few moments.

"There's no such thing as peace," Chromia shook her head. She let herself believe in it once, but she'd never make that mistake again. "And quit quoting what Optimus thinks," she continued. "What do you think?"

"You know what I think. My opinion hasn't changed...but that mech has hope like no other. Maybe, just maybe..." Ironhide didn't believe in peace any more than Chromia did, but when he was around Optimus, he dared to let himself dream of the possibility.

Chromia looked down, "He still has hope after everything that has happened?"

"It drives him," Ironhide answered. He pulled her chin up to look at him. "We should support his decisions, but I'm still willing to give it all up for you...There may be no such thing as peace, but perhaps you and I can find peace. We could live as Neutrals. We could find an uninhabited planet or moon somewhere and just spend the rest of our lives looking at the stars."

Chromia moved her head out of his grip, "Not as long as there are Decepticons. Cons stop at nothing. We either wipe them out or they wipe us out. Neutral or not, they don't care." Chromia pushed air out of her vents in resignation. "You were right the first time; we should support Optimus's decisions."

Megatron might have been dead, but there had always been Starscream vying for leadership. Starscream was more than capable of organizing and leading the remaining Decepticons.

"You want to believe in hope, Mia. I know you do," Ironhide spoke softly. "There isn't a being anywhere that inspires as much hope as Prime does."

Chromia knew that from experience already, but it was easy to lose sight of it the longer the war went on. She raised her hand to caress Ironhide's face, a half smile forming on her face, "Forever my loyal Ironhide. There isn't a being anywhere that is as loyal as you are."

Ironhide huffed at her, bringing his forehead to rest against hers as he gave her a half smile of his own.

Chromia's frame suddenly seized up in pain, and she brought her hand down to clasp at her chassis. Ironhide felt a sharp shooting pain through their bond an astrosecond before she blocked it from him. He grabbed her immediately, pulling her against his own chassis in concern, his spark skipping in fear.

"Oh Primus, what..." Ironhide started before Chromia's strained voice interrupted him.

"It's just the new weld," Chromia ground out, letting Ironhide hold her until the pain subsided. "It just takes some time for it to settle."

Ironhide knew what she was talking about. She always experienced intermittent pain after a weld replacement, but this was far sharper than usual.

"Are you sure?" Ironhide asked, concern that something else may be wrong with her casing that Ratchet may have overlooked. Her injury was so extensive that new problems arose for her all the time. "Let's see what Ratchet thinks..."

"I'm fine, Hide," Chromia nearly growled at him. "It's a new alloy from this planet, so it's bound to take a little more getting used to." She tried to smile, adding, "It's probably made out of dirt."

The last thing Chromia wanted was to see what Ratchet thought. She hadn't brought up Ratchet's thoughts on replacing the casing and she didn't want Ratchet bringing that up either. Things were going good for once and she didn't want to worry Ironhide with something so drastic right now. She took down the block and, seeing that the pain had subsided, Ironhide relaxed a little.

"Okay, but I think we should get him to take a look at it if it does that again," Ironhide said.

Right at that moment, Ratchet and Bumblebee emerged from the Ark. Both Ironhide and Chromia looked in their direction.

"I just want to go," Chromia said to Ironhide as she transformed into her alt mode. "Let's just go ahead and go."

Ironhide gave the Jeep Liberty a puzzled look. Their entire argument started because she didn't want to go. Now she was stating otherwise. She did that when she was hiding something. Ironhide threw Ratchet a suspicious glance. Perhaps the medic had already said something to her about the weld replacement. She did not like the medical procedures she had to endure and was always avoiding the medics whenever she could. However, Ironhide decided not to press the issue. She seemed to be doing fine now and there was no need to 'rock the boat,' as he'd heard Will say.

"We're all here," Ratchet stated, somewhat grimly, as he approached them.

Bumblebee followed Chromia's example and transformed next to her. Ratchet gave Ironhide a glance before transforming behind Bumblebee. Ironhide looked around them, scanning the horizon for any threats. He looked down at the dirt under his feet and then slid a foot across it. He watched as a cloud of dust rose from the ground where he'd disturbed it and then became caught in the breeze, whisping away into nothing as all the granules were dispersed. He hoped Optimus was right about this planet. Initiating his own transformation sequence, Ironhide took his place behind Chromia.

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Ironhide's spark swelled in pride as he rode along with his family unit. They were finally together, as they should have been able to be since the beginning. He watched as Bumblebee zipped around Chromia through traffic. He could practically feel Bumblebee's happiness through Chromia's joy-filled spark.

Bumblebee was so happy he could hardly stand it. Chromia's spark was completely open to him and every now and then, if he got close enough, he could feel Ironhide's too. He never felt so much as part of a family as he did at that moment. For once, he didn't let his concerns about his true origins bother him. He felt like he belonged to Ironhide and Chromia and he wanted the feeling to last for as long as it could.

Chromia focused entirely on Bumblebee's playful behavior. Everything about him was just so positive. It was hard to believe he was born to war and bred to fight his entire life in it. She felt Ironhide caressing her through their bond and she reached back in kind. Whatever they said about his gruff, trigger-happy temperament, he was a surprisingly good caretaker. Chromia was convinced that Ironhide could have raised Sunshadow to turn out to be as wonderful a mech as Bumblebee was.

Ratchet slowed a little to give Ironhide's new family some space. Of course, the family itself wasn't all that new, but having them together certainly was. They deserved some time to themselves. It was really rough on Ironhide to have to keep Chromia and Bumblebee seperated for so long. Ratchet was glad that they could finally get to know each other. The Cybertronian race may not stand a chance in the long run, but at least something good about it was surviving.

Of course, Ratchet wanted to make sure to keep this good thing alive. He idly wondered if Chromia mentioned to Ironhide about that spark-casing replacement. If he could keep Chromia in good health, then that entire family unit would remain in good health. He was confident that fitting her with a new spark casing would be the answer to solving most of her physical ailments, provided there were no complications during the procedure itself, of course.

They all continued on their way, lost in their own thoughts until they arrived at the Lennox place a few hours later.

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Chromia knew their Prime was alive, of course. She heard his call. They'd all spoken about him and she had been anticipating speaking with him since she arrived on this planet. However, seeing him again and standing in his presence was something else entirely.

For some strange reason, even after knowing he was alive and well, she felt disbelief. She never thought that she would see him again before Elita One did, and her spark was heavy with that fact. Chromia just watched him as they approached him, recording everything about the event.

It was dark, around 2:30 a.m. human time, but there was some sort of spotlight set up next to the Lennox house. There were several humans standing behind Optimus. Chromia recognized Will and Sarah immediately, but there were two others that she hadn't seen before. There might have been more, but she didn't dwell on it. Chromia briefly wondered if she should adhere to Will's request to stay away from his house, but decided now was not the time for joking.

As good as it was to see Optimus again, Chromia couldn't miss how hagard he looked. He looked warn down, like the next crisis he could be faced with would be the one to make him snap. But, he was there, as big as life itself, in all the magnificence that was Optimus Prime. Seeing him again made her feel like she was seeing Elita again. It was only a part of Elita, but a welcome sight all the same.

All in all, he was holding together pretty well. The humans certainly would not know anything of his troubles by looking at him. However, even with the weight of the fate of Cybertron itself threatening to consume him, Optimus's optics shone with the embodiment of hope. He was an anchor for the Autobots and he would never give up no matter what happened to them.

Chromia greeted him warmly. "Hello, Optimus. I never thought this orn would come."

"It's very good to see you again, Chromia," Optimus glanced to Ironhide and smiled. "I don't think Ironhide ever thought this day would come."

Ironhide grumbled something unintelligible, crossing his arms over his chassis as he did so.

---

Will and Sarah watched the reunion, unable to tell if it was an emotional one or not. The aliens began speaking in Cybertronian as soon as they saw each other and Will could only read Ironhide's expressions, which, at the moment, looked a little put off. That wasn't really that unusual for the mech, though.

Will definitely noticed how different the reunion was from the one with Ironhide, but he supposed that would be the case, especially since this Chromia was Ironhide's mate. However, there was no physical contact with Optimus at all. They just stood by each other. There were no hugs or hand shakes or arm holds of any kind. Will vaguely thought that Ratchet might be scanning Optimus, but he wasn't sure if that was a Cybertronian greeting or a medical thing.

They knew very little about Cybertronian culture, even after five and a half years of living with one. Will wanted to change that...

"They would be speaking in their language," the man next to Will grumbled.

Will gave his commander a sidelong glance, "Well, Colonel, this is a private moment. They haven't seen each other for longer than human kind has existed. We probably shouldn't even be out here."

"If they are going to be living here, even if it's just for a year of our time, we immediately need to know about each and every one of them that arrives. It has been far too long since this one has landed," Colonel Lagier said.

Sarah glanced at Will, making eye contact with him when he gave a slight shake of his head. The Colonel wouldn't notice it, but she knew Will all too well. It was pointless for the commander to be there that evening. They weren't going to be addressing the aliens until the next day, but he insisted he be there anyway.

The commander had said it had something to do with reminding the aliens who was in control. Ironhide knew what the protocol was if/when another Cybertronian arrived and he blatantly ignored the order. Colonel Lagier wanted to be there when they arrived to the house. He thought his presence would 'remind' Ironhide of his error. Will knew better, but he didn't bother to inform the Colonel of how futile the effort would be. Ironhide probably wouldn't even notice the Colonel, much less feel chastised for disobeying an order by his presence there.

The man next to the Colonel was a Cultural Anthropologist. Will had been trying to get it approved for someone to study the aliens for years. Ironhide had been as against it as several people in the government were. It was more than likely not going to sit well with Ironhide that he was finally able to get the proposal pushed through, but the Cultural was there to record his observations of the reunion.

---

"We need some place to talk," Chromia was saying as she looked around the property. They weren't in a very secure location. Any Decepticon could easily spy on them. She lamented Optimus not just meeting them all at the Ark.

"The humans have a facility in which we..." Optimus began.

"No way," Ironhide interrupted. "We are not all going down there at the same time."

Chromia looked passed Optimus to the humans behind him. "I think I can get away from them if I need to, Hide."

She practically rolled her optics at Ironhide's protectiveness from something seemingly so harmless. She was also puzzled by his abrupt reaction, especially since he was the one to convince her that what they were doing with the humans was somewhat worthwhile.

"You have no idea what they are capable of when given the chance," Ironhide warned.

Ironhide glanced at Bumblebee meaningfully. Bumblebee simply shrugged his shoulders, saying, "Maybe she could get away. I didn't fight back, remember. I didn't even try."

An uneasiness at Bumblebee's words crept into Chromia's spark.

"You did the right thing, Bumblebee," Optimus said.

Had Bumblebee fought back, the humans would have declared war on all Cybertronians right then and there. Optimus felt guilty for what Bumblebee had to go through, but the little bot knew what to do without having to be told.

"Did the right thing?" Chromia's voice was questioning, but was also laced with a tinge of iciness.

"And she isn't going to have to try to get away from anything," Optimus continued towards Ironhide.

"I'm not taking my entire family down into that death trap," Ironhide insisted, not answering Chromia's query, but making his stance with Optimus because of what she was wondering about.

**"What is wrong with you?" **Chromia asked through their bond. **"Just a few joors ago, you were telling me that we are searching for peace on this planet and the humans are a means to that end."**

**"Just a few joors ago, I had no idea Optimus was thinking of taking all of us down to this underground facility," **Ironhide retorted. **"I do not like that place. There is no easy way in or out of it and no signals can get in or out. It's like being blind. It's fine if only one or two of us are in there, but all of us...That's a risk I'm not willing to take."**

"A risk? How?" Chromia said out loud. She looked at Bumblebee. "What happened?"

Bumblebee couldn't look at her, finding some rock to stare at on the ground instead. "They, um, tortured me." The last part came out as a whisper.

"They what?!" Chromia practically exploded. "Tortured you?!"

"It was a misunderstanding," Optimus said, ready to grab her if she tried to make a run at the humans behind him. She seemed ready to spring on them at any moment.

"A misunderstanding? Torturing someone is not a misunderstanding. It's done deliberately," Chromia was livid. They had hurt her youngling and she was ready for any excuse for a fight.

Ironhide tried to calm her through their bond and she went to shock the ever loving Pit out of him but stopped herself because she didn't want to shock Bumblebee again. She seethed at Ironhide, ready to power up her cannon when Optimus suddenly rose his voice.

"Calm yourself," Optimus commanded in that tone where his authority was not to be questioned. "I understand that this comes as a shock, but what is done is done. They have appologized for their actions and the group responsible has been disbanded. We have moved on."

Chromia felt reassurance from Bumblebee and let her anger dissipate somewhat, but none of it left her feeling that humans were trustworthy. She had the distinct impression that Ironhide had mixed feelings on them. To some extent, she even thought Optimus had reservations about them. She suddenly realized why Optimus chose Ironhide to be the liaison. Optimus needed to assure that the Autobots were going to remain safe while they lived on this planet, and, aside from himself, Ironhide was the best protection they had. However, they couldn't have her reigning her vengeance upon the humans because of what happened to Bumblebee. That wouldn't help with trying to keep the peace at all. She gave Ironhide a sheepish grin.

"I could stay here while you and the others go," Ratchet suggested to Optimus.

Optimus looked from Ratchet to Ironhide. "I oversaw the installation of a new security system myself." If the humans thought they were going to spy on them or try to trap them, then they were mistaken. "We all go. It's as secure as the Ark."

It would be so much faster to go to the human facility to talk, rather than driving all the way back to the Ark just to have to come all the way back to the Lennox's for the next project Optimus was going to have them all do. He needed everyone to be there.

Ironhide relaxed, nodding his head, somewhat ashamed of himself for questioning Optimus. "I trust your judgment."

"I'm glad to hear that you still do," Optimus replied warmly. "We roll out at dawn."

He looked from Ironhide to Chromia. Nothing about them had changed. They were still triggers ready to be pulled, guns about to go off at the slightest offense. He sighed softly to himself; he wouldn't have them any other way.

"My best friend is a human," Bumblebee said to Chromia, trying to reassure her further.

She smiled at him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Optimus watched them a moment, glad to see that they finally knew each other and that Chromia accepted the situation of them hiding Bumblebee from her. He knew it had to be hard on her. He knew it was going to be hard on Elita...

Optimus bowed his head, his spark dropping in anxiety and concern. He'd deal with her reactions as they came. He just hoped Elita got a chance to know Bumblebee at all. He looked at the stars again, the pain in his spark from just a few Earths days ago remaining fresh on his mind. He could hardly wait just a few more hours to hear Chromia's accounting of how she and Elita were separated.

---

"Are they arguing?" Sarah asked Will when Chromia's stance suddenly changed.

Will looked at Ironhide, noticing his hands opening and closing into fists, a slight electrical charge coming off of his forearms where his cannons were hidden underneath.

"They might be," Will answered, concerned about that development, but not sure that there was anything they could do about it.

Will noticed Bumblebee hovering fairly close to the femme and realization struck him. Perhaps the femme just found out about what happened to Bumblebee. Will knew Bumblebee was the youngest, considered little more than just a teenager. Will also knew this femme had a child of her own at some point. Ratchet had told him as much. If her motherly instincts were anything like Sarah's, then he knew she'd be hopping mad about that particular misunderstanding between Bumblebee and Sector 7. He knew Ironhide had a hard time letting it go. It was understandable. Even he had a hard time letting it go. He couldn't trust his own kind. How were they going to get these aliens to fully trust them?

It seemed like the electronic pitch of Optimus's voice changed and, with it, so did the demeanor of the others. They all calmed down considerably. Their conversation was over a few minutes later.

Ironhide stepped forward, coming to a stop in front of Will and Sarah. He completely ignored the other humans.

"Good to see you again, Ironhide," Will said jovially. "I was beginning to wonder..."

Ironhide had been gone for three months, but it was probably only considered a little over a week's time for him. Colonel Lagier make a coughing noise, but Ironhide didn't even acknowledge that he was there.

Ironhide chuckled, "Good to see you too, Will."

"Annabelle had a birthday," Will continued, glancing over at his superior in a way that suggested he shouldn't make issue of anything right now.

Chromia came up from behind Ironhide at that moment.

"A birthday?" she asked. "What's that?"

"Humans celebrate the moment they were given life at the same time every cycle of their planet," Ironhide explained.

"Really? How could they keep up with it. It's so short, like a blink of an optic..." Chromia started before hearing Will make a forcing cough.

If it was one thing Chromia didn't have, it was tact. She was just like Ironhide was when he first started his liason role with them.

Chromia looked from Ironhide to Will, taking the hint from the look on Sarah's face.

"What a great idea," she recovered somewhat. She looked at Ironhide. "Maybe you'd remember how old you are if we had celebrations like that."

888888888888888

Ironhide, Chromia, and Bumblebee sat in their vehicle modes outside of the house. The humans were all trying to get some sleep before they made their way to the base. They could get a few joors of recharge themselves, but none of them were in recharge. They just sat there, enjoying each other's company.

There was movement on the porch of the house and then they saw the Lennox's oldest sparkling making her way to where they were parked. Chromia's spark automatically reached out to it.

**"I'll call Will to come and get her,"** Ironhide said through their bond, knowing the child wouldn't respond to Chromia's spark and not wanting her to be disappointed because of it.

She stopped in front of Ironhide, singing a song of how she missed her friend and that she was glad he was back. Chromia's spark soared at the sound of a sparkling singing again. It was very alien compared to a Cybertronian sparkling and she realized her mistake in reaching out for it, but Chromia found she didn't care at that moment. Ironhide decided to wait a few breems before calling the child's creators.

"I had a biiirth-daayyy," she sang. "I am six years o-old."

Annabelle danced up to the Jeep Liberty, still humming to herself in the same tune that she was singing to Ironhide with. Chromia was amazed at how proud the child was of her age.

"You're very pretty," the child said. "Are you going to stay here awhile?"

Chromia gasped in awe. She knew Ironhide spoke to the human sparkling, so the child speaking to Ironhide was nothing that unusual, but Chromia had never said a word to her. Either she spoke to all the vehicles that appeared at her home, or she somehow knew that the Jeep could speak, just like the Topkick did.

Chromia still didn't speak back. She still thought doing so would screw up the child's processor somehow. Even though the sparkling's human creators knew what Ironhide had been doing, the idea of 'invisible friends' was still something new to Chromia. It just didn't sound right.

Instead, Chromia opened her door. She didn't know why she did it. She didn't want humans riding in her cab like symbiotes, but there was something about this human. Maybe it was the fact that it was so innocent.

Chromia felt Ironhide's surprise through their bond.

**"I thought you didn't like organics." **His tone was somewhat mocking. He knew Chromia had liked the Lennox family from before, despite her argument about humans in general.

Chromia ignored him.

The human child smiled, not wasting any time in getting in the 'new' vehicle. However, as she started to climb in the front seat, a mewling noise stopped her.

Chromia was puzzled by the sound, scanning the area for other signs of life. She found the source. It was a small, four-legged, fur-covered creature and it made the sound again before brushing up against her front tire. Chromia's first reaction was to recoil.

**"Hide, what the frag is that?" **Chromia sent.

**"That's what they call a 'cat.' It's a pet," **Ironhide replied.

**"What is a 'pet?'" **Chromia asked.

**"It's an animal that humans are fond of. Humans have other kinds of pets too, but this one is a cat," **Ironhide explained.

The human child jumped down, talking to the 'pet,' "Hello kitty kitty."

The cat responded to her, mewling again and rubbing it's side against her leg.

Chromia was puzzled**. "She's talking to it,"** she said. **"Is it sentient?"**

**"I don't think so," **Ironhide answered. **"I don't really know."**

Annabelle picked the cat up and hugged it, snuggling it against her face. The cat didn't seem to care. Chromia remembered Ironhide saying something about her wanting to pick the human child up like a 'kitten:'

"_**You're the one that wanted to pick her up like she's a kitten," **__Ironhide spoke of Chromia wanting to pick up the human child._

"_**A what?" **__Chromia questioned, not recognizing the reference._

"_**A kitten. It's this furry little creature….never mind," **__Ironhide said._

Chromia smiled to herself. She could see how Ironhide had such mixed feelings on the humans. She hated to admit it, but the humans were like Cybertronians in a lot of ways. This child held on to that cat, which must have been an adult version of a 'kitten,' the same way Chromia wanted to hold on to her.

Annabelle started to get back into Chromia's cab, but with the cat in her arms. Chromia nearly jumped.

"Please leave the cat outside," Chromia finally spoke. She had a hard enough time letting a human in her cab. She definitely drew the line with other organics.

Annabelle was nonplussed with the 'new' vehicle speaking to her for the first time. In fact, she continued as if the Jeep Liberty had been speaking to her all along.

"Aww, why not? Please? She's cold," Annabelle sweetly whined.

**"The cat is a 'she?'" **Chromia said to Ironhide.

**"Don't ask. I don't know how it works for all organics," **Ironhide responded.

Chromia scanned the cat and saw that it was, in actuality, far from being cold. Its fur was a natural protectant.

"She's not cold. She'll still be here when you come out," Chromia said.

Chromia was suddenly reminded of the memories that Ironhide had of Sunshadow wanting to bring his Little Dide into their carrying holds, which was a big no-no, and them having to talk him out of his toy. Chromia couldn't help but feel a little love for this human child.

"You sound just like Mommy," Annabelle said. "Kitty isn't allowed in the house either."

Annabelle put the cat back on the ground and finally climbed into Chromia's cab. Chromia closed the door. The first thing she noticed was how warm the child felt. Annabelle crawled around a bit before curling up in the front seat to go to sleep. That was when Chromia realized how much it felt like carrying.

**"Primus, Hide, it feels like..." **Chromia started.

**"I know," **Ironhide said, lovingly brushing her through their bond.

Chromia suddenly understood why Ironhide didn't mind letting these humans ride in his cab. She suspected he only let certain ones in, though.

Chromia liked the Lennox humans just fine. Humans really were a lot like Cybertronians. Some could be trusted, while others would be deceptive and harmful. Bumblebee just ran into the wrong group. Like always, the trick was learning which group could be trusted.

A couple hours went by before Annabelle's femme creator came out onto the porch. She approached the vehicles and then sighed with nervous relief when she saw Annabelle curled up inside the Jeep Liberty. She wasn't sure where she was when she saw Annabelle wasn't in her bed, but she knew how fond she was of Ironhide, so that was a logical place to look. She was surprised to find her in the Jeep rather than the Topkick, though, especially with the way the femme seemed to have no regard for humans whatsoever.

"I should take her inside," she said to the air, unsure of where to address the Jeep, or if the Jeep was even 'awake.' She thought about just opening the door, but wasn't sure about doing that without warning the alien she was about to do it.

Chromia was awake and she heard the female human, she was just reluctant to let her take the child.

"She's fine where she is. I'm regulating the temperature and she's," Chromia hesitated, but then went on anyway, "...strangely comforting."

Sarah nodded her head. "Yea, kids will do that."

Sarah knew all about Ironhide and Chromia's child, or whatever the aliens called their own. Will told her all about it after Ratchet told him. It was devastatingly sad. She had always thought Ironhide seemed unhappy, especially before his mate arrived. Now she understood completely.

Sarah looked across the lawn to where the temporary structure was where their barn had been, where Optimus had been staying. She saw Ratchet sitting with him, tending to something in Optimus's chest. She couldn't really see it, but she wondered if it was his spark. Will had said that he had a sparkmate like Ironhide and that Optimus didn't know where she was. Sarah didn't know how it worked for them, but it made her sad.

Sarah looked back at Chromia, placing a sympathetic hand on her hood, saying, "Just because we live short lives doesn't mean we're oblivious to the joys and hardships of it."

Sarah turned to go back into the house and the fact that she completely trusted Chromia with her child was not lost on Chromia.

"Wait," Chromia called. Sarah turned around and Chromia said softly, "Thank you."

8888


	51. Concessions

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow and the Decepticon Nightfire belong to Litahatchee/ Letohatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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This chapter is entirely in the present. Normal print is the present. There is a lot going on in this chapter, so I hope it is all fairly clear. All questions that arise during this chapter will be answered in future chapters *smile*

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 51

Concessions

by Litahatchee

"Are you okay?"

Chromia stood next to Bumblebee in what the Lennox's called their 'yard.' Despite the fact that the sun hadn't risen yet, the sounds of the tiny flying organics of the area could be heard as they began their day. The other Autobots were gathered around Will and some sort of Army 'escort' contingent. Chromia and Bumblebee were standing a little ways away from them.

Chromia was keeping her distance on purpose and she was under the distinct impression that Bumblebee was too. Though he had said that he trusted the humans, she really couldn't blame him for being a little stand-offish. At least, she assumed that was why he was stand-offish. A spike of anger at what she learned that the humans did to him rose in her spark, but she quickly blocked it from him. Ironhide looked in their direction for a moment, but Chromia's full attention was on Bumblebee.

Bumblebee's spark seemed to be reaching for something. She was confused by that. She didn't understand what he was trying to do. He was reaching out, yet his spark was guarded. She couldn't tell what he was reaching out for. His gaze was set upon the gathered mechs, but she couldn't make out which one he might have been looking at, if any particular one of them at all.

Bumblebee suddenly stopped trying for it, whatever it was, and a painful spike rose in his chest from his lost bonds. Chromia immediately tried to sooth the pain and that was when Bumblebee finally acknowledged that she said something. He looked at her, his optics searching for assurance, but she didn't know what to reassure him for. She simply let her side of the bond be wide open for him. He seemed to relax a little, but only marginally so.

"What is it, brightspark?" Chromia tried again.

Bumblebee glanced back at the mechs and then looked at her again.

"Nothing," he said. "I'm fine."

He then turned and walked away. He transformed when he got to the driveway, indicating his readiness to get moving.

Chromia looked back towards the gathered mech and narrowed her optics at Ratchet. She was wholly convinced that there was something Ratchet wasn't telling her about Bumblebee, whether it had to do with Nightfire or not. Maybe Bumblebee suspected something too, but Ratchet obviously never told him.

Ironhide broke away from the group and started walking towards her. Perhaps Ratchet wasn't what was bothering Bumblebee at all, but Ironhide instead. Ironhide always had a knack for intentionally or unintentionally upsetting someone...

"What did you do?" Chromia accused as soon as Ironhide was next to her.

Ironhide was confused. He had no idea what his sparkmate was accusing him of now, but his first reaction was to deny any wrong-doing whatsoever, even if he did do something wrong.

"Me?! I didn't do anything..." Ironhide took up for himself.

Noticing the questioning look on his face and feeling it in his spark, Chromia gestured towards Bumblebee, explaining, "Something is bothering Bumblebee."

"Ah," Ironhide sounded, nodding his head in understanding. "He gets like that when he's around Optimus sometimes."

"Optimus?" So Bumblebee was looking at Optimus...

Chromia couldn't dwell on it any further as a spike of pain shot through her chest and across her shoulders. Most of it subsided as quickly as it hit her, but that did nothing to subdue Ironhide's rising concerns.

"You're in pain," he said. It wasn't a question.

She tried to block out the lingering aches, but Ironhide wasn't fooled in the least.

"I'm okay," she said, sending him reassurance through the bond, a reassurance he wasn't accepting.

"No, you're not," Ironhide countered, stepping closer until his chest was nearly touching hers.

Chromia could practically hear his spark singing to hers. His closeness was distracting... He was trying to wear her down, make her admit something was wrong.

"It's just the new weld, Hide," she said quietly, averting her optics from his gaze.

Ironhide wasn't sure if she was just using that as an excuse to cover up something else or if she really thought that was the only problem.

"You've never had this much trouble after a weld replacement before, even getting used to it," Ironhide said just as quietly.

"I never had a replacement with an alloy from this planet before either," Chromia reminded him.

Ironhide remained skeptical. Ratchet would never be so careless as to use something if it were that substandard. Ratchet wouldn't have replaced the weld at all until he was sure; Ironhide knew him well enough to know that. At least, he hoped he did...

Ironhide glanced in Ratchet's direction. Then he felt warm, caressing, digits against his face as Chromia reached up to touch him, his attention returning fully to her.

"Can't we go just one orn without being reminded?" Chromia nearly whispered. Things were going so well between them. She just wanted to be able to enjoy being together...Chromia looked at the humans and Optimus. Well, she wanted to at least enjoy being together with only minor distractions, even if it was just for one orn. She rested her hand on his chassis, continuing, "Just one orn, Hide. That's all I ask. Then we can go to Ratchet and I'll let him do whatever he thinks is necessary."

Ironhide briefly wondered if Ratchet had already told her what he thought was necessary. The way she was acting, it was probably more serious than he'd like to think. He suddenly had a feeling he was going to want 'just one more orn' as well.

Right then, Optimus gave the order that it was time to roll out. They both looked up and then Ironhide leaned his head down until his forehead came to rest on Chromia's. As usual, it was she who would wear him down instead.

"Okay," he said simply, though he couldn't hide his worry through their bond.

888888888888888

Optimus, Ratchet, Ironhide, Chromia, and Bumblebee, the only Autobots on Earth and possibly the only Autobots left in existence, followed the human escort vehicles, who were flanking them on all sides.

"I don't like this," Ironhide grumbled.

Other than Ironhide voicing his dislike of the situation every now and then, nothing else was said until they got to the base and approached the entrance to the underground facility. Only something the size of a vehicle could go through this particular entrance. In fact, it was an entrance for vehicles. So, they had to remain in their vehicle modes until they got to the section big enough for them all to transform and stand up in.

"I don't like this," Ironhide stated again.

"Yes, you said that already," Will said from within Ironhide's cab. "Several times, in fact."

Ironhide did his usual brooding thing and Will shook his head in his usual frustration with it.

"This was Optimus's idea. He said there needed to be a mutually beneficial relationship between the humans and the Cybertronians," Will said after a moment more of dealing with Ironhide's intense silence and hoping to put Ironhide's mind at ease.

Ironhide made a huffing noise, "Yea, well, that doesn't mean I have to like it."

Will threw his hands in the air in defeat. He was somewhat taken aback by how openly Ironhide was protesting. He could be fairly open with Will, but not that open. The more Will got to know him, the more he realized that Ironhide considered him more than just some other human. He was Ironhide's friend and, like a friend, Ironhide felt he could say anything. Yet, that didn't change the fact that they were two completely different beings from completely different planets.

"I'm one of those humans, Ironhide," Will said after a moment.

Ironhide seemed to take pause. It was almost as if he'd forgotten that little detail about Will.

"But you're a human I trust. It's the rest of them that I worry about," Ironhide finally spoke.

888888888888888

The Autobots settled around each other in a room that Optimus assured Ironhide was as secure, if not more secure, than the Ark. The room was made entirely of concrete. The entire underground facility was made of concrete, actually. Various types of wiring, cords and conduits ran along the ceiling and the walls near the ceiling. There were obvious security cameras facing them, but Optimus had them turned off. He didn't tell the humans to turn them off, he just used his wireless connection with the security system to turn them off himself. Undoubtedly, the humans would notice.

Ironhide made sure Chromia had a place to sit and then he sat next to her. Optimus sat in front of them, while Ratchet and Bumblebee decided to lean against the wall behind him. Optimus was, in effect, in the middle and, therefore, the center of attention.

A scaffolding-type structure hung from the ceiling above them. Ratchet stood at optic-level with it. There was a door near the ceiling, under all the wiring, that was adjacent to the structure. The door opened, and several humans walked out onto it, to include Major William Lennox, Colonel Eric Lagier, Master Sergeant Robert Epps, and the Cultural Anthropologist.

Optimus had hoped that the humans would have given them some time to converse amongst themselves, but he didn't say anything to them. Will Lennox looked a little uncomfortable, so Optimus figured he had tried to argue just that point. Optimus nodded his head towards him in appreciation of his efforts. It didn't matter that they were there, as all the Cybertronians had to do was speak in their language and it would be like they were in private anyway.

"There are a few things we need to discuss about the humans," Optimus started.

Chromia was surprised that he wanted to start with the humans first. She figured that he was dying to know about how she was separated from Elita and she was fully prepared to start with that report. Maybe he was procrastinating...Or maybe he knew there was nothing that could be done about it, so he wanted to start with something that could be somewhat controlled.

---

"He is speaking in their language again," Colonel Lagier said to Will.

Will couldn't help but feel a slight sense of deja vu from the previous evening. He glanced at Epps before looking at his current commander. "I suggested that we give them some time to themselves. Otherwise, they'll just speak to each other as if we aren't here. We should have waited at least an hour." Will's stomach growled at him. He would have liked to have had some lunch while giving the Autobots a little privacy.

Right at that moment, Lagier's stomach growled as well. It was low, but Will didn't miss it. He smirked at the man. Maybe they'd start listening to Will in the not too distant future.

Will had more experience with the aliens than anybody, except for maybe Sam, and Epps, but the higher-ups still thought they could direct the situation. When the aliens were ready to speak with them, they'd speak with them.

The aliens weren't ready to speak with them yet, so standing there was a waste of time while they could be doing something else. Somehow, Lagier thought they were being ignored or put aside. Will tried to explain to him that that wasn't the case. It was just the way the aliens were. But, Will wasn't an expert on cultural relations, so having the Anthropologist around would hopefully prove to his commanders that he had been right about the aliens all along, never mind the fact that there was no human in existence that was an expert on alien cultural relations.

Will looked at the cultural guy. He couldn't quite remember is the man's first name was 'Gary' or actually 'Guy.' The man was jotting down some notes. Will hoped having this person around was a good thing. His notes and accountings were going to be integral to what the human view of the aliens would be. This Anthropologist could either be the Autobots' best advocate, or their worst enemy. Will hoped the guy could remain objective...

---

"Ironhide is doing a great job in handling the human obsession with gaining new weapons technology," Optimus said. He looked at Ironhide, continuing, "You have done well in diverting their attention for the last five years. However, the humans are a persistent race. I have had to reiterate how dangerous it would be if we gave them any further knowledge on the matter. They were not very happy about that, so I have made a few concessions with the help of William Lennox."

"Concessions?" Ironhide asked. "What kind of concessions?"

Optimus looked from Ironhide to Chromia and then back to Ironhide. His expression was unreadable. Then he said, "We're going to rebuild that structure you burned down."

Ironhide swore Optimus was trying to hold back a smile after he said that.

Ironhide leaned back, shaking his head, "I'm never going to live that one down, am I?"

"Nope," Ratchet said quickly from his spot against the wall.

"What did they do?" Bumblebee asked innocently.

Both Optimus and Ratchet chuckled when Ironhide's face blanched.

Chromia ignored all of them. Simply rebuilding the barn wasn't what Optimus had in mind and she knew it. There had to be a bigger concession than that. None of the other humans would care about a single structure that didn't belong to them...at least, she didn't think they would.

"We're going to teach them better construction engineering, aren't we?" Chromia asked.

Optimus smiled at her, "Yes."

Chromia smiled back. She told Will they'd rebuild it and that it would last a lot longer this time. She was glad Optimus was thinking along those same lines.

"We won't help them fight their wars, but we can help improve their lives," Optimus said. "I have already given them better security programs so that they can tighten the security of their defense network."

Ironhide seemed to relax a bit at that. It made him feel better knowing that the Decepticons would have that much more difficult of a time hacking that system. The humans probably put everything they learned about the Autobots on that system. It made him feel better that the Cons may not find out about Chromia from a human error, at least.

"That is as far as we go in helping them improve their defenses," Optimus continued. "It will be up to us to countermand any Decepticon attacks."

"What if we need the humans' help? They have proven themselves useful against the Decepticons already," Ratchet said.

"They have argued that point in their attempts to gain more knowledge about our weapons," Optimus said. "We will decide what to do if and when we are faced with that possibility. For now, we will rebuild the Lennox barn using what the humans would consider state of the art building materials and technology."

"Using what?" Ironhide asked. "This planet is completely different from ours. Their building materials are substandard from anything available on our planet, very few of which is available on theirs."

"We can help them improve what they have by showing them possibilities in reinforcing it," Optimus countered.

"Then what?" Ironhide asked next.

"You will continue acting as liaison. We will build underground living quarters for you and Chromia under the new structure. They wanted more than just this new security and new building materials, so Will convinced them that studying us, our culture and interaction, would be beneficial for both us and them."

Ironhide's optics grew wide, "He what?"

Will Lennox had been arguing that someone studying them would be a good idea. He felt that if the humans understood them better, then they'd be more and easily accepted into their society when the time came. Ironhide never liked that idea. He didn't give a Con's aft if the humans accepted them into their society or not.

"A Cultural Anthropologist will be observing you and Chromia," Optimus said, nonplussed by Ironhide's reaction.

Ironhide jumped to his feet, not bothering to hide his anger, "Have you lost your mind?! You know what would happen if Chromia were discovered here!"

"No, I don't know...and neither do you. The Decepticons are scattered. Without Megatron, the conditions of the war have surely changed," Optimus said, his voice remaining calm.

"Yea, but you don't know for sure," Ironhide countered.

"Ironhide, this is the only way we can move forward on this planet. I explained the situation to the humans and they will do everything within their power not to mention that there is a femme among us."

Ironhide's anger spiked. "You told them?! What happens in my life is not to be on display for most Cybertronians, let alone an organic species!" Ironhide yelled at him.

Ironhide jerked his head towards Ratchet, fully intending to let him know just how displeased he was with Ratchet telling Will about his loss, but Optimus got his attention again when he rose his voice.

"I didn't tell them anything you wouldn't want them to know. I only told them the situation with the femmes of our kind."

---

"That one sure does have a temper," the anthropologist said of the one they called 'Ironhide.' "It's interesting that the most hot-headed one is the one that's loaded with the most weaponry."

Will watched as he jotted a few things down. Will suddenly became fearful that these observations would be used to decide on how dangerous the Autobots might be.

"He's harmless," Will stated.

"Harmless isn't exactly the way I'd describe him," the man retorted.

"He means well," Will countered.

"He burned down your barn," the guy continued.

"Not because of his weapons, I promise you. That was purely an accident," Will was starting to get annoyed with this guy and became a bit suspicious on how this particular Cultural Anthropologist was chosen.

"What if your family had been in there?" the man said next.

Will snorted. He knew Ironhide never would have approached his mate like that if Will's family were around. Ironhide had problems with Will watching their reunion upon Chromia's arrival. There'd be no way he would have done anything with the entire family around.

The Cultural Anthropologist had no idea how the barn was burned down and Will was sure Ironhide would like it to remain that way. Will might have argued for this observer, but he also knew how private Ironhide was and he'd do what he could to ensure Ironhide's most private moments remained, well, private.

Will watched as a few more things were jotted down. "I thought you people were supposed to be objective observers."

"We are," the cultural stated.

"Just make sure you remain that way," Will countered.

---

Chromia just sat there with her mouth hanging open. She was literally speechless. She and Ironhide were going to be nothing more than a cultural experiment. Finally, she found her voice.

"Optimus, I don't think Ironhide and I are the best Cybertronians for the humans to formulate their opinions around our entire kind on." The humans would more than likely decide that all Cybertronians were battle-hungry war hounds while observing the likes of the greatest warriors ever produced by Cybertron.

Optimus actually disagreed, but he didn't voice that. Instead, he said, "They specifically asked that it be you two. They are very curious as to how bonded mates of our kind would conduct themselves."

"Then they can observe you and Elita when she gets here," Ironhide stated sternly. "As far as Chromia and I, we don't want to be 'observed' by anything."

At the mention of Elita, Optimus hung his head. Slightly angered, he didn't say anything for a moment, allowing his temper to settle somewhat before saying, "You will allow yourselves to be observed for long enough to satisfy the wishes of the humans."

"I'm shocked, but I'm not surprised," Chromia stated. "This isn't the first time you've made a decision that affects us without consulting us first."

Optimus met her gaze evenly. She would see to it that this would happen with as few problems as possible, but he was going to owe her big time.

Bumblebee was surprised, yet amused, by Chromia's forwardness with the Prime and he made a small snickering sound. The sound stopped when both Optimus and Chromia snapped their head in his direction. He tried to cover himself by making a coughing noise into his hand, which was probably something he learned from Sam, as coughing like that served no purpose or benefit for a Cybertronian.

Chromia turned her head from the youngling's peculiar behavior and returned her attention to Optimus. "But, as always, we'll get used to it," she conceded.

Ironhide looked like he might protest, but Chromia reached out to him with both her hand and their bond. She patted his arm while reassuring his spark. She made a motion for him to sit back down, which he did.

Chromia knew the next part wasn't going to be easy. The last thing Optimus needed was for them to be fighting every decision he made, but that didn't mean Chromia wasn't going to speak her mind, which Optimus well knew.

There was a moment of silence between them all as Optimus prepared himself for the next topic. He looked at Chromia.

"You were assigned to a team consisting of yourself, Mirage, Smokescreen, Hound, First Aid, and Eli..." Optimus started.

"I don't know where she is," Chromia interrupted. She knew Optimus had to be desperate to know if she knew Elita's whereabouts, especially since they were supposed to be together all this time. "I don't know where any of them are. I lost contact countless vorns ago."

"What happened?" he nearly whispered.

"The Decepticons...They found us..."

8888

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Oh my goodness, I just got a review that prompted this note and explanation. When I say that the humans want to 'observe' the Cybertronians, I do not mean in a perverse way at all. The reviewer understood that, but I wanted to dissuade any other thought in that direction, unless it's a humorous one. Cultural Anthropologists observe and record other cultures all the time, but not in a sexual manner. They merely observe the way other cultures conduct their day to day lives. They watch them and study how they interact. What I am saying in this chapter is NOT meant to be voyeurism.


	52. Lost

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow and the Decepticon Nightfire belong to Litahatchee/ Letohatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to the wonderful and amazing **REVIEWERS** of chapter 51:** Faecat, flamingmarsh, LadyJet2, plenoptic, Sergeant Duck, renegadewriter8, CuteKittten, xCubicZirconia, JadedFalcon, greenleafprince, theshadowcat, TheInuyashaKaidanWriter, Lecidre, ice around the moon, Shizuka Taiyou, Bluebird Soaring, Lady Katana4544, Xerios, Flameshield, **and** 1bloodtempest.**

Responses to reviews for ch. 51 have been moved to 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' on my biopage.

Thanks to **Shizuka Taiyou** for reviewing every chapter over the last month or so. That was quite a reviewing marathon that had me smiling the whole time. Thank you so much! I'm glad you are loving the story.

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: greenleafprince, SwiftnovaSpark, Lady Katana4544, Shelley Knight, Patka91**

**[Story Alert]: Lady Katana4544, Patka91**

**[Favorite Author]: Lady Katana4544**

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Eternal thanks goes to **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity,** **grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **i-love-me-some-leggypoo **for letting me use their ideas and/or terminology. The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma**. The Decepticon femme character with that name, however, is mine.

**IMPORTANT NOTES:** This chapter is in the past, with some present moments in between. _Italics_ print is a flashback. Normal print is the present. **Bold **print is transmissions. The present parts of this chapter follow ch. 52. The flashback in this chapter occurs during the AllSpark search mission, well after Elita's abduction from Floatilla. The flashbacks in the story are not in chronological order. There are some hints as to how Elita got out of that situation, but it will be explained further in future chapters, as the reason Elita is not recognized will be explained later. I completely made up the name of Mirage's ship in this chapter. I also took a lot of artistic license with space bridges and other numerous points in this chapter, though the use of space bridges here is because I saw them used in the movieverse comic, 'Reign of Starscream.' I hope it's agreeable to everyone and is to your liking.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 52

Lost

by Litahatchee

_Chromia felt a hand at her shoulder as she rested. Then she heard a voice. The voice was soft, soothing._

_"How are you feeling?" the voice asked her._

_Chromia knew exactly who it was without unshuttering her optics. She kept them closed, answering more bitterly than she intended._

_"I feel like I just got my weld replaced and my sparkmate is far far away," Chromia said, wincing as her spark gave a jolt of pained protest._

_The hand squeezed her shoulder sympathetically and then the voice continued, "There's something I want to show you, something that Hound found. It may get us nearer to our sparkmates." _

_Chromia almost snorted derisively. That sounded too good to be true. Their sparkmates had been gone for so long that they would have been assumed dead by every Autobot if Chromia and her companion weren't still alive. But, Chromia and her companion were so guarded and kept so hidden that many Autobots weren't even sure of that much. And then there was that voice. It was so full of hope. It was always hopeful, always positive, even when their world fell apart around them. Sometimes it annoyed Chromia, but she stuck with the other as if her life depended on it...Maybe it did..._

_Chromia opened her optics, ready to either roll them at her friend's bottomless positive disposition, or look at her as if she was crazy for mentioning such nonsense as actually finding their mates. Instead, she started when she saw the clawed hand upon her shoulder. It was black, with claws long enough to gauge out her optics in one easy swipe. _

_She jerked her head away from the hand purely on instinct, without first thinking who it belonged to. She immediately started mentally kicking herself for her reaction._

_"I'm sorry," she started to say._

_"Don't worry about it," her companion said as she drew those clawed fingers up to her face to stare at them with her own optics. "Sometimes they scare me too."_

_Chromia's spark sank. Chromia knew what it was like to be pushed to talk about something, so she'd never push her friend to talk about anything. It had been eons since her friend's abduction. If her companion was ever going to talk about it, she'd talk about it when she was ready. Whether she was ready to talk about it or not, those were the first words her friend had spoken about what happened to her. Those few words and the tone of her voice spoke volumes of what she'd been though and what she was still going through. _

_Chromia sat up and placed a sympathetic hand of her own on the other femme's dark purple shoulder._

_"You're still the same spark, Elita," she said softly._

_Elita looked down at her chassis. "But I don't recognize the chassis it resides in," she stated, though there was not even a hint of bitterness to her tone. She just seemed...lost._

_Chromia, on the other hand, felt bitterness. A loss of a sense of self was what happened when someone wasn't prepared to be reformatted. Chromia was upset that that had happened to her friend. If she had claws like Elita's, she'd rip out the optics of everyone involved in Elita's torment. _

_However, it was the perfect defense for Elita, as none of the Decepticons recognized her and very few Autobots knew who she was when they first saw her. That, of course, had been the point at the time that it was done. It had been the only way. Elita, herself, just didn't know that was a part of the plan. Therefore, she suffered the side-effects. _

_"Everyone that matters knows who you are," Chromia stated reassuringly, ready to listen, as Elita finally seemed ready to talk. _

_Elita's optics brightened and she stated cheerfully before standing up, "Then let's go find them, shall we?"_

_Chromia let her frame fall back to the berth, her head thumping against the headrest. That was not at all what she thought Elita would have to say. Even so, how could someone find something positive about every situation they found themselves in? Elita lost her sense of identity, yet she never sat around moping about it. She never even acknowledged it, other than the few words spoken just then. There was one being in the mulitverse that would always know who she was and she never lost hope in being reunited with him, even if it meant she had to be the one to go to him, where ever he was._

_"Are you up to it?" Elita asked, interrupting Chromia's thoughts, having never left Chromia's side. "There's something you need to see." _

_Elita extended her clawed hand towards Chromia. Chromia gave her a small smile and took it, letting Elita help her off the berth._

_"Okay, okay," Chromia said before saying half to herself, "Can't even get an orn's rest after surgery around here."_

---

"We kinda fell into a routine," Chromia was saying to Optimus and the others in the underground human facility on Earth. "We moved around from base to base, helping out where we could, hiding out when we had to. Then, when it came time for a new weld, First Aid would seek out a place where we could be secluded without being discovered while I recovered. Then, we'd do it all over again... Well, at least until it was decided that the Autobots needed to leave Cybertron. After that, we went on Mirage's ship from outpost to outpost until it came time to replace a weld."

Chromia looked at each of them in turn before saying, "None of us ever thought the AllSpark search team would be gone for so long."

Optimus's optics widened marginally, shocked by the news that the Autobots had to leave their homeworld, yet needing firmer confirmation that it was true.

"The Autobots left Cybertron?" Optimus couldn't hide the shock from his voice. The war desimated their planet, but there were, at least, always small groups still living on it.

"We had to," Chromia answered. "The Decepticons overran us at every turn. It was the only way we could assure our survival. The fighting became worse and worse. They were no longer taking prisoners. They were sparing no one. They were fighting to wipe the Autobots out completely, just like they did the femmes."

"Primus," Ratchet whispered from his place against the wall.

Optimus's spark sank, riddled with guilt. It was his fault. He didn't get to the AllSpark in time to save them, and now it was gone, reduced to nothing but a small sliver of what it once was. To make matters worse, he was unsure of his sparkmate's fate. His hope was faltering, and there was little he could do about the downward spiral. He dared a glance at Bumblebee, who didn't miss the gesture, but he didn't open his spark to the little bot.

"Elita wanted to stay," Chromia continued. "We stayed for as long as we could. We were even one of the last teams to leave. But we had two strikes against us: we were Autobots and we were femmes, and we were running out of places to hide."

Chromia looked at Optimus, "The femmes are all but extinct, but we figured the Autobots still have a fighting chance as long as you live. We couldn't risk you and Ironhide with the importance of your mission. If we had died, then you as well, and the Autobots would never have stood a chance of surviving anywhere. So, when we could no longer hide on the planet, we had to find new hiding places off of it."

Chromia shook her head in sadness, telling them how it didn't matter that they left the planet. The Decepticons came after them, attacking Autobot outposts whenever they ran across one. The war was never going to end no matter what they did, unless they wiped out the Decepticons first.

Optimus did not like that option. There had to be a better way. Otherwise, the war really was never going to end. They'd all wipe each other out until there was one Cybertronian left. Then that mech or femme would probably kill himself/herself because of sorrow.

"When it came time to replace another weld," Chromia continued, "we found this deserted planet. It was an unnamed planet in the Rigel System. There was evidence of a lost civilization there, so Hound wanted to check it out. We thought it would be a good distraction and a good place to hide out while I recovered from a new weld replacement, so we landed. The planet appeared to be abandoned...It wasn't..."

---

_**"Primus, is that what I think it is?"**__ Chromia transmitted to Elita via their link. _

_They found a hiding spot on the cliff above the object of interest. Chromia set her optics on magnification so that she could get a better look._

_There was a large ramp leading up to a circular structure. A tall spire rose above the structure, seemingly reaching into space. Chromia knew what it was immediately. There would be a portal at the top of that spire. _

_"Yes," Elita sighed happily, whispering outloud before transmitting, __**"Hound found a space bridge, a warp gate..."**_

_It was a rare find. There weren't many of them. The problem with them was that sometimes the Cybertronians didn't know what lay on the other side. They didn't always know where the space bridge would take them. There were very few Cybertronians left that even knew how to build them and, unfortunately, those few were on the Decepticon side. They were called 'seekers.' Therefore, all known space bridges were controlled by the Decepticons. As Chromia magnified even more for an even closer look, she saw that this gate was no exception to that unfortunate rule._

_**"There are only three guards as far as we can tell,"**__ Elita transmitted from beside her. __**"They must be relying on the fact that we didn't know it was here."**_

_That seemed to be the case with most space bridges anyway. The Decepticons seemed to be lax on their defenses of them because the Autobots didn't know where they were to begin with, so they were relatively safe from attack in that regard. _

_Chromia easily figured out what Elita was thinking. Between the two of them, Mirage, First Aid, and Hound, they could take over possession of the portal. Then they could fly their ship through it and hopefully be that much closer to finding the AllSpark search team. The key word there was that it was 'hopefully.'_

_Chromia looked at her friend in skepticism. Surely Elita had already seen the problem with that plan. _

_**"We don't know where this leads. It could take us farther away from Optimus and Ironhide rather than closer to them,"**__ Chromia transmitted doubtfully._

_"I know, Chromia," Elita whispered. "But it's worth a try. What other choice do we have?"_

_Both Elita and Chromia were desperate to find their mates. The fact that Elita, who was known for thinking things through and not taking insane risks, was willing to do this proved how desperate she was becoming. _

_Their orders had been to wait and survive, but they had waited long enough. Even Optimus didn't think the AllSpark search team would be gone as long as they had been. Both Elita and Chromia were fading too fast for First Aid's liking. It was time to take the initiative and go look for the AllSpark team themselves. Part of the orders was to survive. Survival at this point meant finding their sparkmates. _

_Chromia looked back out over the space bridge and then Elita again. "Okay," she said. "What's the plan so far?"_

_Elita, Mirage, Hound, and First Aid had to have been making plans while Chromia recovered. Elita wasn't asking her what she thought after all. It was best that Chromia just agree, because she was going along anyway, whether she liked it or not. _

_"Well well, what have we here?" a sneering voice suddenly said from behind them._

_Both Chromia and Elita whipped around to face the owner of the voice, a jolt of alarm coursing through their sparks. _

_"A couple of Autobot spies?" another voice said, just as mocking as the first._

_As the two Autobots faced two Decepticons, it was becoming clear that their small group made a slight error. They thought the planet was abandoned. Even when it became clear that it wasn't, they thought that there were only three Decepticon guards present. The three guards were still down at the warp gate. They had no idea that these two were anywhere around at all. _

_Elita began to worry how many more Decepticons were on this planet. They needed to get back to Mirage and the others. Abandoning the new space bridge plan was fast becoming the best option. _

_"They're femmes!" one of the Cons exclaimed in surprise. "I didn't know there were any left, let alone two." _

_"Well, that leaves one for each of us," the other Decepticon sneered._

_"I don't know whether to shoot mine or interface with her," his companion retorted._

_The other Decepticon's optics lit up in recognition of the blue femme. "Holy frag!" he exclaimed. "This is Ironhide's sparkmate! We hit the jackpot here!" He then looked at the purple femme. "You look a little familiar, but I can't place you..."_

_Right at that moment, Elita sprang into action. She jumped forward, surprising the two Cons with her sudden movement. Then, a wicked-looking knife came out of subspace from her toe plating. _

_"Place this!" Elita yelled before kicking the Con closest to her, thrusting the knife right between his legs and into his abdomen. If the squeal of pain as he went down was any indication, she hit her mark._

_Chromia didn't wait to see the results of Elita's vicious knife-kick. The other Con began his attack and Chromia sprang to action herself, her cannons appearing from subspace already blazing with firepower. They were too close for her to take a shot, however, so she swung her arm around at the same time as he swung at her. _

_The cannon on her arm made contact with his facial plates, sending him backwards, his punch completely missing her. Before Elita's opponent even hit the ground, Chromia was taking advantage of her own opponent's loss of balance. She shot him clear through the neck with her shoulder cannon, a sickening gurgling emitting from him as his own energon chocked off his cooling vents. He went down hard and Chromia wasted no time. She jumped on his chest and shot him in the head. Then, for good measure, she shot him through the spark. _

_She then jumped on Elita's victim, who was writhing around on the ground in pain. _

_"Wait!" Elita grabbed her arm to stop her from shooting the mech. "Don't kill him. There's been enough death already." _

_Unfazed by Elita's desire not to kill her opponent, Chromia was impressed by Elita's fast action to simply neutralize the Cons with force rather than through negotiation. She looked at Elita's feet, nodding at the wicked looking knife that was still protruding from her toe-plating. "Does that come standard?"_

_Elita shrugged her shoulders, subspacing the weapon with a sharp 'schwick.' "Maybe," she said. "It came with the frame."_

_Chromia gave a chuckling smile, which Elita couldn't help but return. _

_Elita looked down at the writhing mech, "I'm tired of these creeps thinking with their interface cables. He can live without it for awhile."_

_Chromia underestimated Elita's reasoning for not wanting to kill the mech. Elita had always been compassionate and, like her sparkmate, she didn't like to kill needlessly. In this case, however, the reasoning for keeping this enemy alive was decidedly more sinister. Death would have probably been the best thing for him. _

_"I must be rubbing off on you," Chromia said to Elita, sneering at the mech._

_"Let's get back to Mirage and the others," Elita said, making no comment on Chromia's statement. "These idiots probably called their friends."_

---

"When we got back to the others, they were already being attacked," Chromia continued her accounting to Optimus and the others. "There were Decepticons everywhere. They weren't there when we arrived. As far as we could tell, they showed up as a mobilization force preparing to go through the portal. We didn't know where they were going and they didn't know we were there until they showed up. We were just at the wrong place at the wrong time..."

---

_When Elita said that she was taking Chromia to go see the space bridge, Mirage, Hound, and First Aid didn't think anything of it. That was before, when they thought there were only three Decepticon guards on the planet. When all the other Cons started showing up, everything changed. _

_Mirage, Hound, and First Aid tried to reach Elita and Chromia via their comms, but there was some sort of interference preventing them from communicating. So, they decided to go and get the femmes on foot. They could have taken the 'Illusion,' Mirage's ship, but they needed stealth. An Autobot ship taking off would have definitely been noticed. _

_They relied on Mirage's ability to disappear and Hound's ability to track to stay hidden as they went for the femmes. Mirage didn't want to leave First Aid alone, as he wouldn't have stood a chance against the Cons if they discovered him on his own, so he went with them. _

_In retrospect, Mirage wished he'd left Hound with First Aid and gone on his own. _

_As soon as the arriving Decepticons saw the little band of Autobots, they attacked. The only thought on Mirage, Hound, and First Aid's minds was that they had failed Prime in the protection of his and Ironhide's sparkmates. Elita and Chromia were a formidable force, but there was no mistaking strength in numbers. Being off by themselves with the sheer numbers of Cons showing up did not bode well for the pair._

_Elita didn't miss the look of relief on Mirage's faceplates as she and Chromia charged towards them through the battle. _

_"Oh thank Primus," First Aid exhaled through his vents while he and Hound provided cover fire for the approaching femmes. _

_As the Decepticons closed in on them, they somehow became separated into two groups. Mirage and Chromia were together and Elita was with the others. Elita and the others couldn't break free, but Mirage and Chromia were quickly making an opening of escape for themselves._

_"Mirage! Chromia!" Elita yelled through the melee. "Go get the ship! We're getting off this planet!"_

_Chromia was reluctant to leave her friend, but she and Mirage didn't try to wait around, lest they lose their chance. They took off towards the location of the ship, several Decepticons pursuing them as they went._

_Chromia suddenly went down from beside Mirage, a Decepticon leaping and pulling her down by her ankles. He landed a stunning blow to her face before Mirage could double back to her. _

_Chromia was momentarily dazed, pain lancing around her head. The Decepticon brought his gun to bear on her and she was able to grab his wrists, pushing the weapon away as he took the shot. The bullet lodged harmlessly in the ground next to her head. In the next instant, Mirage was upon him, pulling him off of her as she scrambled to her feet._

_"Run!" he yelled. "Get to the ship!"_

---

"I ran as fast as I could," Chromia said quietly.

Chromia's spark began to pulse erratically at the memory of her fear that the next plasma round that went past her head would be the one to take it off. Ironhide reached out to her, doing what he could to keep her spark calm. Bumblebee picked up on her distress as well. He didn't know if he could offer comfort, but he tried.

"I got to the ship and launched, but when I got back to where they were before, they were gone..."

---

_**"Elita? I have the ship. Where are you?" **__Chromia transmitted through their link._

_**"We're at the space bridge," **__Elita quickly transmitted back._

_"Frag," Chromia murmured to herself. Why and how they got back to the gate was beyond her at that moment and getting the ship to it was going to be nearly impossible. A couple of Con ships already spotted her._

_**"I lost Mirage," **__Chromia said. _

_**"He's okay,"**__ Elita responded. __**"He's with us. We're located at zero zero point two nine. The Cons have activated the portal! If you hurry, we might be able to go through it!"**_

_The plans kept changing. Everything was in motion, but nothing was guaranteed._

_**"You want to leave through it right now?" **__Chromia asked. She had assumed that they would first get off the planet and then come back to the space bridge at another time, when the Decepticons weren't there in force._

_**"Good a time as any," **__Elita replied._

_A Decepticon ship fast approached the 'Illusion,' sparing no missiles as it closed in. _

_"Frag!" Chromia cursed, banking hard to the right and then going into a nose-dive followed by a tank churning ascent, dodging the missiles, but just barely as one grazed her aft engines. _

_As if it couldn't get any worse, two seekers joined the fight._

_"Fragging frag!" Chromia pitched forward as one of the seekers buzzed by her view-screen. She could practically feel his victorious smirk._

_She continued to try to reach Elita's coordinates anyway, though the seekers and the Con ship thwarted her every effort. _

_**"Elita, I can't get to you!" **__Chromia sounded frustrated and desperate through the link._

_Elita and her fellow Autobots watched their ship juke and dodge the airborne Decepticons from their spot on the ground. She flew over them a couple of times, but it was clear that she was never going to be able to land. _

_Elita glanced at Mirage, who already knew the only choice they were faced with at that moment. The 'Illusion' was his ship and Elita had always remembered that. He nodded in her direction, though he always knew that he never had to give her permission to do anything; he was on Elita's team._

_**"Fly into it," **__Elita transmitted to Chromia._

_**"What?!" **__Chromia exclaimed in shock._

_**"Fly into the portal,"**__ Elita transmitted clearly._

_**"No way!" **__Chromia yelled at the same time as she transmitted the same words._

_Elita and her companions watched from the ground as Chromia flew Mirage's ship over the portal but not into it._

_**"Fly into it now before they close it!"**__ Elita transmitted harshly._

_**"No!" **__Chromia yelled. __**"I'm not leaving you!"**_

_**"Do it! That's an order!" **_

_Chromia's spark sank as another seeker joined the chase. She was very close to the portal. The first two seekers were closing in on her ship from the starboard and port sides. The Decepticon ship that didn't seem to run out of missiles was closing in on her aft and the new seeker was coming right at her from the front. She had a clear shot through the portal if she banked hard to the left while pitching the ship into another nose-dive. _

_Her only option was becoming painfully clear... It was either fly through the portal or get blown out of the sky._

_**"We'll find a Con ship,"**__ Elita said, trying to appease her friend. __**"We'll rendezvous on the other side."**_

_Chromia knew Elita was just trying to make her feel better, but it sounded as hopeful as Elita always was. _

_**"I'll never stop trying,"**__ Chromia's voice whispered through the link, her quiet promise nearly breaking Elita's spark._

_Right at that moment, Chromia dove the 'Illusion' right through the space bridge portal. The three seekers broke away to keep from colliding into each other as the ship disappeared. The Con ship on her aft went right in after her, however._

---

"I got away from the ship by flying back through the portal once we came out the other side," Chromia explained. "It didn't fly back through with me. I didn't understand why until I got to the other side again. I thought the bridge was going to transport me to the same place that I had just left, but it didn't. Apparently the bridge was only programmed for one jump. So, the next one was blind. The Cons on that ship knew that, so they must not have thought that I was worth the risk."

"I had no idea where I was," Chromia continued. "None of the stars were familiar and I couldn't figure out how to get back to anywhere that I recognized. The space bridge was simply suspended in space. There were no planets anywhere. I made sure I always knew where that bridge was and I came back to it often, but I couldn't fly through it again. I tried several times, but nothing ever happened. I always stayed in the same place. I guess it shut down and I couldn't figure out how to activate it again. Not even any Decepticons ever came through it.

I was lost and time kept passing. I don't know how long I was out there, but my chronometer broke after seven vorns. I was trapped in a universe that I didn't know. There was nothing I could do. And I never saw Elita One or any other Autobot again. I was alone, completely alone."

Ironhide put his arm around her when her frame started shaking. She didn't push him away and she let him nurture her vulnerability through the strength of his spark. He let her rest against him and didn't give a frag who saw them at that moment. He couldn't imagine drifting for vorns with no contact with anyone. He was angry with himself for not pushing her to tell them this earlier.

Things were starting to make more sense to him, though. She had a lot of time to be lost in her own thoughts and personal hell with what they'd lost at Floatilla, among every other horror of war she'd suffered before and since then. It was probably sometime during her seclusion in space that she was forced to continue to delete more memories, thus losing the name of their sparkling, Nightfire's name and memories, and who knows what else. With no one to help her and no one to talk to, she had no other choice.

"It got to where I didn't have enough energy to stay online for very long. I continued to try to find a way back until I depleted the energon stores on the 'Illusion.' Then I had no choice but to power down for extended periods of time in order to conserve energy."

Chromia felt Bumblebee's spark reaching for her, his warmth combined with Ironhide's making her feel better. She smiled at him. A youngling such as him was enough to give anyone hope. She briefly wondered if that was why he was created. He truly was a blessing from Primus.

"The last time I powered up from an extended shut-down, I returned to the space bridge. I couldn't believe what I saw. It was active! I flew right through it without even hesitating. It didn't matter if it took me to another universe I didn't know. Anything was better than where I was, even if all it turned out to be was someplace new that I didn't know.

This time, the other side was on a red planet. I was so excited to finally be near a planet, but it was the transmission I received that captured my spark in pure joy. It was a transmission from you, Optimus. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I came straight to the coordinates with the map that you sent in that transmission."

Unsure of the Decepticon presence she figured would also be at those coordinates, Chromia left the 'Illusion' orbiting around Earth's moon. She approached in her protoform without broadcasting any signals at all. Until she felt Ironhide himself in her spark, she wasn't going to announce who she was to anybody.

When Chromia was done talking, everyone in the room fell eerily silent. Even the humans, who had no clue what just transpired between the aliens, grew quiet. It was as if they could sense the somber mood.

Optimus just sat there, his processor working through several mysteries they didn't understand since arriving in this galaxy. He always wondered how the Decepticons beat them to Earth. It seemed one of the seekers built a space bridge on Mars. Optimus's concern for every Autobot kicked in as he thought of something else.

"You didn't mention Smokescreen. What happened to him?" Optimus asked.

"Smokescreen switched teams a couple vorns before that. Arcee and Cliffjumper's team needed someone. The Autobot numbers were so low. He had to go with them to even things out a little."

Bumblebee perked up in recognition of the name 'Arcee,' but he didn't say anything, feeling now wasn't the time for personal queries.

Several human voices cut through the silence, but Optimus wasn't listening. He was thinking of Elita and what could be happening. He didn't reveal to the others what he felt several Earth days ago in his spark. However, he wanted nothing more than to find her, whether she was dead or alive. There were no leads except for what Chromia just told them and that sounded more dismal than he would have liked to have known.

Even if they could figure out how to get back to the abandoned planet where Chromia was separated from her team, that was vorns ago. It was more than seven vorns ago. Chromia wasn't even sure. It could have been fifty vorns ago as far as Optimus knew. The chances of Elita and the others still being there were less than none. Elita could be anywhere. Searching for her was going to be like searching for the AllSpark all over again. Optimus didn't think he had that much time.

Optimus didn't know what he was going to do.

8888

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES: The space bridge on Mars was built by Thundercracker and can be seen in the movieverse IDW comic Reign of Starscream #2.

Also, I want to note that this story uses the events of the 2007 Transformers movie and the comic series 'Reign of Starscream' is more than likely coming into play (though you do not have to have read that comic series to understand what is going on in this story, as I'm going to change things around a bit if I go that route). However, I must say again, this story does not recognize the events of the 2009 ROTF Transformers movie, as it was started well before we knew what the plot of that storyline was. Even my Jetfire character is different from the Jetfire in the 2009 movie. So...2007 Transformers and ROS, yes...2009 ROTF, no.


	53. Mistrust and Suspicions

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's (Sunshadow and the Decepticon Nightfire belong to Litahatchee/ Letohatchee) are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to the wonderful and amazing **REVIEWERS** of chapter 52:** ice around the moon, flamingmarsh, Faecat, kris126, hummergrey, jadedfalcon, Flameshield, Shizuka Taiyou, plenoptic (for two), renegadewriter8, xCubicZirconia, TheInuyashaKaidanWriter, 1bloodtempest, Marinelife37, Lecidre, CuteKittten, Bluebird Soaring, greenleafprince, **and** Saberfang90.**

Responses to reviews for ch. 52 have been moved to 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' on my biopage.

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This chapter is in the present. Normal print is the present. **Bold **print is transmissions. There are several point of view changes in this chapter. They are separated by page-breaks.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 53

Mistrust and Suspicions

by Litahatchee

Optimus sat in stunned silence as the humans addressed them. It wasn't what the humans were saying, but more of what Chromia had said before that and his faltering hope of ever seeing Elita One again. He only had one memory in his processor that meant anything to him at that moment, an image of his sparkmate smiling up at him as her spark whispered her undying love for him.

Upon their departure from each other, neither one of them promised anything. They parted knowing that it could be the last time they ever saw each other. If the war had taught them anything, it was that nothing was certain.

The only thing they had that was etched into the fabric of forever was their bond. No matter what or how much something had changed on the outside, their sparks were forever bound together. Their love was certain and everything that happened to them throughout the long war further strengthened that love beyond imagining. Optimus became determined that no amount of distance could break them apart either.

"Optimus?" Ratchet's voice cut into his thoughts. Optimus looked at him lethargically, as if he'd just come out of a long recharge.

"Hn?" Optimus answered as unprofessionally as if it were just he and Ratchet in the room discussing their long friendship together.

Ratchet switched to their inner link. Optimus was obviously severely distracted, understandably so after hearing Chromia's accounting. Furthermore, Ratchet knew how bad Optimus's spark was hurting, and not just emotionally. Ratchet would do his best to help him, but in the end the only thing that could save him would be his sparkmate.

**"Are you okay?"** Ratchet asked in concern.

"I don't know," Optimus answered out loud in Cybertronian.

---

Ironhide and Chromia glanced at each other. They figured Ratchet was talking to Optimus internally, but that he answered out loud was unusual for him. Then Chromia felt a stirring in Bumblebee's spark as Bumblebee reached for something again, something other than her. She looked at Bumblebee in puzzlement. When he noticed her gaze, he stopped trying immediately.

Feeling the confusion in her spark, Ironhide opened his link with her, **"What's the matter?"**

Chromia pointedly held Bumblebee's gaze while answering Ironhide, **"Nothing."**

It certainly wasn't nothing, but now wasn't the time to address it. Bumblebee knew, or at least suspected, who his mech creator was and Chromia was certain that that mech was in this room. Both Ironhide and Ratchet told her that Bumblebee had been found, but she was beginning to realize that that wasn't the case at all. She wasn't angry with Ironhide, though. She was sure that Ironhide truly believed that the little mech _had_ been found, or truly wanted to believe that. She could see in his memories that he had suspicions, but she didn't delve into them to see what the suspicions were.

Even Bumblebee told her he didn't know who his creators were, yet here he was possibly reaching for one, one that wasn't reaching back. She narrowed her optics at him and he diverted his gaze to the floor. Had he lied to her? And if he did, why did he lie to her? Or maybe he was afraid of something. He didn't seem to be the type that could lie. Was he afraid of telling her something? Why? And why was his mech creator ignoring his calls?

Chromia had her own suspicions. One of Bumblebee's lost bonds was a Decepticon femme. Bumblebee had described as much. She also just recently found out that Ratchet had fallen in love with Nightfire, a Decepticon femme that met Bumblebee's descriptions. Ratchet even deflected Chromia's suspicions that Nightfire had been Bumblebee's femme creator. Chromia was beginning to believe he did that on purpose, that he was possibly protecting Bumblebee. Maybe he was protecting himself also.

Nightfire had been bonded to someone else. Chromia initially thought that Bumblebee was Nightfire's and that his mech creator had been Deluge, which would mean that the second void in his spark was because of the loss of Deluge. It still puzzled her that Bumblebee's second loss was a recent one, but ever since she found out about it, she hardly had a moment to evaluate it further.

It was clear by Bumblebee's own actions that he had a sparkbond with either Optimus or Ratchet. Ratchet having a sparkling with Nightfire would have been impossible. However, if they found a way, then the implications of that would be enormous for their kind. Guarding that secret would be foremost on Ratchet's mind, especially if the Decepticons could exploit it.

Yet, Ironhide said Bumblebee became frustrated while around Optimus sometimes. A creator not acknowledging a bond with a youngling would most certainly be frustrating to the youngling. Ironhide didn't say Ratchet, he said Optimus. That would mean that maybe his connection was to Optimus instead.

Chromia wasn't sure how she felt about that possibility, for a couple of reasons. The main reason, however, had to do with Elita. Surely Elita would have told Chromia if she and Optimus had a sparkling. Even if she had been trying to keep it a secret, especially since Bumblebee had been created well after the Floatilla Massacre and any sparkling would be a target for immediate death, surely she would have said something during all those vorns they were together without their mates.

Of course, Elita never spoke about her ordeal with the Decepticons, so she certainly kept things to herself a lot. Chromia did too. That was a horrible experience for Elita, so not talking about it was understandable. Having a sparkling, though, would have been a joyous occasion for her. She wanted one so badly. She even said that she and Optimus were going to try for one, but that was before Floatilla changed everything for them. Even so, having a wonderful memory of finally having that sparkling with her mate would be something to talk about, something joyous to keep the hope alive, a light among all the darkness.

It dawned on Chromia that perhaps that was why Elita was so hopeful all the time. It would have been nice if Elita had shared that hope with her, though. No, wait...

Elita _would_ have shared that hope with her. Elita was _always _trying to lift Chromia's spark. Something such as a surviving sparkling would have definitely made her feel better. Elita would have known that and she would have used it.

Chromia's first suspicions about Bumblebee belonging to Ratchet and Nightfire had to be correct. There was no way Elita would have kept that from Chromia if Bumblebee were hers and Optimus's. Chromia was sure of it.

---

**"The humans are waiting for your response," **Ratchet transmitted to Optimus, snapping him out of his reverie.

Optimus hadn't been paying attention. He always recorded everything happening around him, however, so he went over the recordings of what they had said in a mere second of their time. The humans would never suspect that he was lost in thought throughout their address. They wouldn't even realize that the comment he'd made out loud in Cybertronian had anything to do with anything. They probably heard it, but they certainly wouldn't know what he said and it was so fast to their ears that such a short comment wouldn't even register anyway.

As Optimus looked over what all they'd said and Colonel Lagier's displeasure with Ironhide hiding the new arrival for so long, the underlying tone of the reason for this meeting was that the humans feared losing control. They didn't say that, but Optimus could spot that fear easily in such a young species. Gathering himself mentally, he pushed his private issues aside in order to concentrate on his duty as Prime.

It bothered the humans that he ruled his Autobots absolutely. They saw that it worked, though, and didn't question his authority over his kind. However, they were constantly telling him that he had no control over the humans. Optimus never wanted that to begin with and it irked him that they wouldn't trust that he was being truthful and sincere when he said he didn't want that.

Optimus studied their history, though. He saw that it was riddled with dictators and tyrannical rulers. That would make humans of all cultures suspicious and mistrustful of any absolute ruler, so Optimus worked hard to dissuade the human fear of him taking over the world.

Part of the fears of this Colonel losing control was because of that fear. It was not only his job to 'control' the aliens, but he had a deep seeded need to feel he was in control of the aliens as well, for his own peace of mind and that of his government's. However, Optimus couldn't do anything about something that even he himself had no control over. Ironhide wasn't a being that bowed to authority by any means. Furthermore, if Ironhide felt the need to protect his mate, Optimus wasn't going to question that.

One thing Optimus learned as Prime was that he rarely had absolute control over anything anyway. Convincing the humans of that fact was still difficult to do. Their mistrust was ingrained in them far too deeply.

"I do not know how to set your minds at ease," Optimus said. "We have been living peacefully among you now for a little over five years. We are tired of war. We just want to rest and find peace"

"We have a hard time believing that is all you want," Colonel Lagier wagered. "Five years is but a fraction of a fraction of one of your years, or vorns, or whatever you call your years."

"Vorns is the correct term," Optimus said.

The colonel seemed irritated for the interruption for a second before continuing, "How do we know you're not just biding your time?"

"You're just going to have to trust me," Optimus answered calmly.

Megatron wouldn't have hesitated an astrosecond if he were still around and there was no one to stop him. The humans knew that, which made it that much harder for them to trust Optimus, but asking them to trust him was all he could do. Optimus kept the fact that he was Megatron's brother to himself. He was going to have to keep it that way or else the humans would never be able to trust him fully. They would fear that he could become even remotely like his brother, despite the millennia Optimus fought against him.

Only four humans knew of his relation to Megatron. One of them was in this room, but Will never divulged any extra information he knew about the Cybertronians unless it was to the benefit of the Autobots. For that, Optimus was forever grateful to him and knew that if he could win the trust of that human, then he could win the trust of the others over time.

"This is slag!" Not surprisingly, this outburst came from Ironhide. Ironhide continued, "There is no being in the multiverse that is more trustworthy than Optimus Prime. It is not his fault that you didn't know of Chromia's arrival absolutely immediately."

"Ironhide," Optimus warned before transmitting. **"Don't make this more difficult than it already is."**

"No, it's yours," Colonel Lagier accused Ironhide.

"It's not my fault either!" Ironhide defended himself.

"If you had reported the arrival as per protocol, we wouldn't have reason to be concerned," Lagier continued.

"Concerned about what?" Ironhide challenged. "That you're losing control? What makes you think you have control over us to begin with?"

"That's enough, Ironhide," Optimus rose his voice.

"This is ridiculous," Ironhide continued anyway. "Why do we have to answer to this paranoid species?"

"I said, that's enough!" Optimus nearly bellowed, clearly angered, his voice echoing slightly off the walls.

"Paranoid?!" Colonel Lagier yelled incredulously.

"Yes, you are being irrationally paranoid," Will spoke up, no longer able to keep his thoughts to himself and in the hopes to help dissolve the tension between Optimus and Ironhide. "I have to agree with Ironhide; this is pretty ridiculous."

Optimus agreed with both Will and Ironhide, but Ironhide's outbursts weren't helping things one bit. Ironhide had quite the reputation among the humans as being a hot head. There were even several repaired holes in the walls where Ironhide took his frustrations out through his cannons. It wasn't unusual for Ironhide, but the humans weren't sure what to think about it. Ironhide was a fantastic protector, but displaying his firepower when angered wasn't exactly helping the humans to think that Cybertronians could be peaceful allies. Ironhide being liaison served its purpose, but perhaps getting Ratchet to be the liaison from now on would be the best thing for all of them.

"We will do our best to comply with your requests, but we cannot guarantee anything, especially when we don't know ourselves," Optimus said once his calm demeanor returned.

"What exactly do you mean?" Lagier asked.

"We did not know one of our kind was coming, so we couldn't notify you of something that we didn't even know of ourselves," Optimus clarified.

"Then you should have told us after the fact," the colonel said without hesitation, pointedly making eye contact.

"Next time, we will make that effort," Optimus replied, equally without hesitation, meeting the colonel's gaze.

"That's not the only thing," Lagier continued. "Barricade is still out there. You said you'd intercept any Decepticon disrupting the peace. We trusted you to take care of it and you haven't."

"Barricade isn't disrupting the peace," Optimus pointed out.

"Barricade is on Earth?" Chromia whispered to no one in particular, but both Ironhide and Bumblebee heard her.

"You must understand that there are very few Cybertronians left," Optimus continued speaking to the human colonel, oblivious to Chromia's concerns. "No harm will come to him as long as he doesn't bring harm to anyone else."

Bumblebee felt Chromia's startled shock a moment after Ironhide did. Ironhide reached out to her in concern and puzzlement, trying to figure out what was wrong, but she deflected his queries, even threatening to block him out if he pushed any further.

Bumblebee wasn't sure what was going on, but Chromia's reaction came after the mention of Barricade. What did Barricade do to her?

Still oblivious to the inner struggles of his Autobots, Optimus unknowingly fortuitously suggested, "Perhaps it is best that we move on for now."

"Agreed," Colonel Lagier conceded.

"Seconded," both Ironhide and Will said at the same time.

Happy for the distraction from the shock of finding out Barricade was on the same planet as she was, much less still alive, Chromia gave Ironhide a sidelong glance. Simultaneously amused and concerned with he and Will speaking in unison, she transmitted to him, **"Are you sure he's not becoming your symbiote?"**

Happy that Chromia seemed to be fine from whatever it was that disturbed her about Barricade, Ironhide held up his hands in a defensive gesture of the implications of her question. **"I swear, he's not!"**

"We have some of the supplies you suggested to start with for the rebuilding project," Colonel Lagier said next, switching gears.

Ratchet let out a soft chuckling snort, which prompted a grin from ear to ear across Will's face. Chromia glared at Ratchet while Ironhide glared at Will. The colonel paused, not sure what was going on but not missing anything. He only paused for a second, though, especially since Optimus continued to watch him expectantly, obviously still listening for what he had to say about the supplies, as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening around them.

"It will take time to get the budget for the project in order," Colonel Lagier continued after he glanced questioningly at Will's rather large grin. "It will also take time to mix and build some of the materials, but we could go ahead and transport what we have to the Lennox property."

"That sounds good," Optimus said. "I look forward to this cooperative effort between your kind and mine."

"As do I," Colonel Lagier said. The higher ups were looking forward to it also...

---

...They had been sitting around too long debating what to do with and about the aliens. The first thought had always been to acquire knowledge of their weaponry, which was met with persistent resistance from the aliens. It had been Will Lennox who finally sold them on the idea to try and learn something else from the aliens.

Will had always tried to tell them that there was more to the aliens than their weaponry. It took five years for them to finally change directions with their alien allies. It wasn't that they didn't learn anything in the last five years, but more progress could have been made between the two species had they tried to concentrate on something else, especially when it became crystal clear that the aliens were only going to allow so little when it came to weapons.

It was also clear that the aliens didn't particularly trust the humans, and vice versa. The new idea was that perhaps gaining the trust of the Cybertronians would get them to open up a little more about their weaponry. Hopefully the humans could gain their trust with cooperative efforts such as the barn rebuilding project and the cultural study.

Many of the higher ups were particularly interested in the cultural study. None of the humans realized these machines could have mates. When the new arrival showed up and they found out that it was Ironhide's 'sparkmate,' as Optimus told them, curiosity piqued.

It was obvious these machines could wage war with each other, but it was thought that that could be a program gone awry. Mating was entirely different. When they approached Optimus on the subject and why he didn't tell them his kind could have mates, he said simply, 'You didn't ask.' However, he dodged a few of the questions that arose on how Cybertronians reproduced and if a mated pair could reproduce. They weren't entirely sure why, but they didn't push the issue at that point, especially when he told them the femmes of his kind were hunted down and killed.

It was at that point that it became obvious Will's insistence on a cultural study was well founded. Will had a Cybertronian living with him for years. He got to know that alien and realized early on how deep these machines truly were. Enough had been speculated on the machines and how they worked. It was time to find out from the machines themselves. And while they were 'learning' from the machines, they could decide for themselves how true the alien claim for a search for peace really was. This cultural study could give them an idea just how dangerous the aliens really might be.

Maybe these efforts would help ease some of their fears too, or compound them; no one could really be sure.

8888

* * *

AN: Ironhide never knew that it was Barricade that recognized Chromia at Floatilla, which is in chapter 9. Perhaps if Barricade hadn't pointed her out, she wouldn't have lost Sunshadow the way she did. Granted, Ironhide may have lost Chromia, but perhaps Sunshadow would have lived. You may also want to reread chapter 20, which is the chapter where BB and Chromia are discussing his lost bonds and also where Chromia's suspicions on where BB came from begin. Also, in chapter 6, Chromia was concerned about Will becoming Ironhide's symbiote, so that little blurb in this chapter where she asks him, '...are you sure...?' is a play on that earlier chapter.

I wanted to point out those particular things since it has been so long since the posting of those chapters. Thanks for all the support!


	54. Lost In Translation

(posted April 3, 2010 (Yay, finally!)) Happy Easter!

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks so much to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 53: **Bluebird Soaring, Faecat, flamingmarsh, ice around the moon, Jadedfalcon, TheInuyashaKaidanWriter, renegadewriter8, Marinelife37, Saberfang90, Fae Child19, Shizuka Taiyou, lady tecuma **(for two), **CuteKittten, C-Wolfeh, Lecidre, Sergeant Duck, Xerios, **and **Flameshield. **

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Due to the long wait, I responded to everyone's reviews through PM's. I will still post the responses on my biopage under 'RESPONSES TO REVIEWS' as soon as I can. Thank you so much everybody! Reviews keep this story going. There is no reason to hide that fact and I don't see it as a negative thing. For whatever reason, there seem to be a few people on this site that thinks those of us writing for reviews is somehow taboo. If it weren't for the review system on this site, this story would never have gotten as far as it has. Furthermore, people leave reviews because they like what they are reading, and they like this story a lot. As long as people continue to enjoy what I'm doing here, I'll continue to write it, because nothing is more motivating and satisfying to an author than praise for his/her work. I truly thank everyone that reviews from the bottom of my heart. Each one, long or short, means so much to me. I shout from the highest mountain, "I WRITE FOR REVIEWS!" because I am not ashamed of that fact. They motivate me to write the best I can, to give this story my all, and there's nothing wrong with that.

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Special thanks to **Lecidre** for the awesome picture she drew of Ratchet and Nightfire on dA, called **'Last Warmth.'** Thank you!

**NOTE:** The carrying concept (as presented in this story) and everything about it belongs to me. I made it up. I've worked very hard developing it. It originated with this story. ASK and CREDIT ME if you want to use it. The only people that currently have permission to use it are: **Karategal, Leggypoo, Xerios, Faecat, Kesera, scarlette16, Flight of Insanity, transflashbacks, **and** 1bloodtempest **(I feel like there's someone else...) Each of these authors have excellent stories and are, or are going to be, incorporating the idea beautifully.

_Italics_ are flashbacks.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 54

Lost In Translation

by Litahatchee

"I can't believe you did this to me, Will."

Ironhide glared at the new human, the one they all referred to as an 'Anthropologist,' as he spoke to Lennox.

Ironhide had cornered Will once the meeting was concluded. They remained relatively in private, but the others weren't too far away and could possibly hear them. Will knew Ironhide wasn't going to be happy about the cultural study, but he thought the mech would wait, at least, until Will got into his cab and they were well on their way back to his house before he said anything. The fact that Ironhide was addressing it right then showed just how mad he was about it. It was somewhat irritating to Will; he was only trying to do what he thought would be best for his alien friends.

"Did what, Ironhide?" Will said in exasperation. He was also becoming irritated with being stuck between both sides. His commanders demanded his loyalty, as well as Ironhide did. All he wanted was for each side to understand where the other was coming from. Of course, that was what a liaison was for, which was his job, but it was becoming increasingly frustrating the closer he got to Ironhide. The job was more personal now than what it was five years before. "I'm trying to help you."

Ironhide shook his head at him. "We are not some caged animals to be observed in a zoo. We have problems of our own to deal with. We don't want someone watching our every move!"

"I know that, Ironhide, but they don't." Will said of Ironhide's problems, shaking his head also. "They question whether or not you're even alive enough to care about problems. The fact that you have a mate proves otherwise." As well as Will thought he knew Ironhide from their extended time together, he was just as surprised to find out about Chromia as his human counterparts were. He always knew that these robot aliens were, indeed, alive, but he had no idea that they could love, at least not on that level.

"I thought walking and talking was enough to prove otherwise," Ironhide countered, completely dismissing the fact that Cybertronians built drones that could walk and talk.

"We can build robots that walk and talk, but they aren't alive," Will said before thinking to himself that they certainly don't love each other either. "It's simply hard for them to swallow," Will continued, thinking, 'even though we didn't build you and you're from outer space.'

It was obvious to Will that these beings could hate each other, especially with the extended war they had going with the Decepticons, but it was argued that, perhaps, that was something someone else programmed for them to do. There was a thought that they didn't have feelings at all, that whoever built them built them for war and the war lasted so long that their builders were killed off through it. The thought was that the war machines simply went on fighting, because that was what they were designed to do.

"They can swallow a round from my cannons," Ironhide snorted.

"Violence is your answer to everything," Will stated humorlessly.

"You have no idea," Chromia said, somewhat affectionately, as she approached the pair, having overheard the topic of conversation.

Will looked at her in exasperation. He could tell by her tone that she wasn't taking any of this seriously. Ironhide's violence was also playing right into the suspicions that these extra terrestrials were simply alien war machines build by sentient aliens instead of being sentient aliens themselves.

"Look, for all they know, aliens built you the same way we build robots here," Will said. "Not only that, but your tendency towards violence is disturbing to them."

"Well, that's just stupid. Humans have as much tendency towards violence as we do," Ironhide retorted.

Will thought that Ironhide wasn't quite catching on to what he was really saying here, or maybe he was just ignoring it. The main problem was that there were some people that wanted to convince the government that these 'robots' were just that...just robots.

Will suddenly recalled a 1980's movie he used to watch as a child, with Number Five declaring that he was alive, even naming himself 'Johnny Five' to further accentuate his sentience. Strangely enough, it made Will want to declare 'Ironhide is alive!' He didn't think that Ironhide would be running around saying that himself. Ironhide didn't think any of the Cybertronians needed to say it; it was plainly obvious they were alive, to hell with anyone that didn't think so.

"But they don't know if it's simply programmed into you," Will continued, pushing the absurd thoughts of the similarities of their situation and that movie away.

"It is programmed into me!"

Overhearing the last part of the conversation, Ratchet walked up to them. He could see how Ironhide's statement could be misinterpreted. By the look on Chromia's face, he could tell that she was beginning to understand that there was a disconnect between the two translations as well, but she didn't know what the equivalent was. As the medic, Ratchet knew right away.

"It is programmed into him," Ratchet said to Will. "But not in the way your counterparts must be thinking. I'm guessing that they think someone programmed us like your computers here on Earth. But when we talk about what is programmed into us, we mean it the same way as you talk about DNA."

"That's what I've been trying to tell them," Will said, having already come to that conclusion himself. "But it doesn't mean the same to them coming from a human. Besides, they think it's just my opinion and I'm just a soldier to them. They need to learn for themselves from you." It did, however, cross Will's mind that they might not listen to the 'robots' either.

"Well, then, they should follow Ratchet around, 'cause I don't know slag about why I'm programmed the way I am, much less about human DNA," Ironhide grumped.

It occurred to Will that Ironhide was right. Everyone was more interested in studying Ironhide and Chromia because they were mated for life, which was something the humans didn't expect the aliens to be capable of, especially since they were robots and robots just didn't have emotions like that. That was what they thought in their minds, anyway, because of their ideas of what robots were, due to their experiences with robots on Earth.

Because of this belief, they'd be prone to twisting Ironhide's words around simply because Ironhide wouldn't know that Cybertronian lingo could be misinterpreted when translated into English. Ratchet, however, would understand that and could put it into perspective better.

Perhaps he should talk to Optimus a little more about this...

They all turned around as Optimus gave the order that it was time to roll out. Chromia wordlessly transformed into her alt mode. Ironhide and Ratchet followed suit.

The Cultural Anthropologist walked right up to them, clearly intending to ride with one of the objects of his study. He tried the Jeep Liberty first, but the door wouldn't open. He glanced at Will, who merely shrugged his shoulders.

Will hadn't seen anyone ride in the Jeep Liberty. Maybe Chromia just didn't allow it. He wasn't about to force the issue, so he stepped aside to let the man ride with him in the Topkick.

When the cultural went to open the door of the Topkick, it didn't budge either. Will looked at the truck incredulously.

"Open the door, Ironhide," Will whispered under his breath.

Nothing happend. The Topkick sat as lifeless at it looked, somehow mocking them anyway.

Will flashed a nervous smile at the anthropologist and tried opening the door himself. Not only would the door not open, but even the handle wouldn't move.

Briefly losing his composure, Will slammed the side of his fist into the window. Quickly regaining it, Will let out a short laugh, "Must've locked the keys inside."

The man merely stared at Will, deadpan, no doubt getting the joke, but unsure of how to react to it.

Right at that moment, the Peterbuilt form of Optimus Prime drove up. Prime opened his passenger door, his hologram form reaching over as if a human were manually opening the door.

"Hello Dave," a middle-aged human the size, dress, and build of a mid-western rancher said to him. "Need a lift?"

Will stared at Dave as Dave stared at the hologram. Will was thinking about how he didn't realize the man's name was 'Dave;' he thought his name was 'Guy,' for some reason or another. At least he didn't have to embarrass himself by asking someone, thus proving that he forgot the name, or by calling the man by the wrong name.

Dave, however, was fascinated by the very real-looking human driving the semi. He was told that the alien robots used them to further blend in with their surroundings, but he hadn't seen one yet. He couldn't believe how real it looked as it smiled down at him.

As soon as Dave started climbing up into the semi, Ironhide opened his door for Will.

---

"How can you be so stubborn," Will chastised Ironhide as they traveled back to his house. "You are not helping yourself or the Autobots!"

"I don't like humans riding in my cab," Ironhide said after a minute or so.

"How many times do I have to remind you that I'm a human?" Will threw up his hands and then grabbed on to the steering wheel again, keeping up the charade that he was driving.

"I can't forget," Ironhide nearly reprimanded. He then softly added, "You're different."

"How am I different? I'm just as human as he is," Will asked next, noticing Ironhide's tone as he said he couldn't forget. It was almost like Ironhide didn't want to view him as a human, that, on some level, perhaps Ironhide wished he wasn't.

"You're my charge," Ironhide answered without hesitation.

Will knew Ironhide considered him that already, but the word and the meaning of it seemed benign to him. Now he was starting to realize that this was something else being lost in translation. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that the only humans Ironhide allowed to ride with him were he and his family. Whatever this 'charge' thing meant to Ironhide, it extended to Will's family, but no one else.

"What does that mean, anyway?" Will wanted to know what it meant to a Cybertronian.

It took Ironhide a while to answer. In fact, Will was about to give up on an answer when Ironhide suddenly said, "I'm your Guardian."

Will mulled that statement over in his mind. It seemed just as benign as the word 'charge.' However, there was one thing he could compare it to, only one thing that he could possibly relate what it meant, but that felt way off somehow.

"What, like you're Bumblebee's Guardian?"

Ironhide's silence was affirmation enough. Will leaned back against the seat in disbelief, dropping his hands to his sides in his astonishment. Keeping up the charade that he was driving felt insignificant at that moment.

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_Will rarely got a chance to speak with Ratchet, but when he did, he didn't hesitate to ask the burning questions Ironhide gave vague answers to._

_"He's different around Bumblebee," Will said of Ironhide. "What is Bumblebee to him?"_

_"Ironhide is Bumblebee's Guardian," Ratchet answered. When Will looked at him expectantly, Ratchet explained it a little more, "We found Bumblebee when he was just a sparkling."_

_"Wait wait..." Will interrupted, already having another question that needed to be answered before Ratchet moved on. "What is a sparkling?"_

_"A sparkling is similar to what you'd call a baby."_

_Will was slightly confused, but he figured the AllSpark must produce them that way. It would be a couple more years before Chromia would land on Earth and he'd get a more elaborate explanation and learn about the differences between AllSpark younglings and those from bonded pairs. _

_"He needed a caretaker," Ratchet continued. "So, he was given to Ironhide. As Ironhide warmed up to the little sparkling, he adopted him as his own; Ironhide became his Guardian."_

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They were interrupted by something, so Will didn't get a more elaborate answer than that, but he knew Ironhide considered Bumblebee to be something like his son. Now Will was getting a broader understanding of these terms, especially the more he got to know Ironhide and the other Autobots.

Caretakers cared for sparklings. They made sure the sparkling had what it needed in order to survive. They probably even loved the sparkling, but they wouldn't consider the sparkling as belonging to them. They may not have even been a part of the sparkling's life anymore once the child grew to adulthood.

Guardians, however, adopted the sparkling, giving it what it needed just as a caretaker would, but also giving it something more. A Guardian would be like a parent, protecting the child, guiding the child, mentoring the child. This would continue well into adulthood and throughout the adopted one's life, and would even extend to the family that the adopted child would start later.

Will knew this revelation was serious. It meant that Ironhide considered the Lennox's a part of his family.

Now that he knew what it truly meant to Ironhide, the next question felt more meaningful than it would have otherwise, "Since when did you adopt me as your charge?"

"Since I say I have," Ironhide answered, giving no further indication of how long he had felt this way about Will.

Ironhide had a protective streak in him that Will hadn't noticed with the others. Perhaps he was more prone to adopting because of this. He might have been a gun-toting, no nonsense, no apologies, kill all his enemies with no mercy type of warrior, but he loved children, human or otherwise. Ironhide couldn't hide that over his gruff exterior. He tried to, but Will saw it in him with the way he acted around both his children and Bumblebee. Even Sarah recognized it in him.

Ironhide had a prejudice with organics that he didn't bother to hide, however. He and Will became fast friends anyway, but Will didn't think that Ironhide was capable of anything more than that with him as a human. Perhaps Ironhide chose not to view him as a human for that reason. He unintentionally got too emotionally close to Will and Will's family, but his reservations with organics was too ingrained. It was just easier to think of Will as being something more than human, something above a human, even though he'd never be Cybertronian.

Will didn't think that any of the Cybertronians could feel that emotionally close to humans. He did know, however, that Bumblebee took to Sam very well.

It dawned on him how Optimus made Bumblebee Sam's Guardian. Bumblebee probably felt the same way about Sam as Ironhide did about Will, especially since he was raised by Ironhide who had, undoubtedly, instilled those values in him, whether it was intentional or not. Optimus most likely did this on purpose, in order to be able to integrate his race into human society much easier. Optimus was extremely smart; there was no doubt about that. He _was_ the leader of an entire race of beings, after all.

It also suddenly occurred to Will why Optimus chose Ironhide to be the liaison. Will always thought Ironhide was a strange choice for the job, but he suspected Optimus did that on purpose too. Now he knew why for sure.

Optimus knew Ironhide would protect the Autobots and their interests no matter what. Perhaps that was what made Ironhide such an unwavering individual. Ironhide wasn't afraid to stand up for his interests and the interests of those he considered his own. And he would be sure nothing like what happened to Bumblebee would ever happen again. Ironhide was a Guardian in the full sense of the word.

As revealing as all of this was, Will was still a little puzzled about why it would matter whether or not someone else rode with Ironhide in his cab. Optimus, Ratchet, and Bumblebee didn't seem to have a problem with it. Optimus just let Dave in his cab without any reservations whatsoever. He even sounded jovial about it, hologram or not.

"How can Optimus feel comfortable?" Will asked. "With someone riding in his cab, I mean."

Ironhide watched the semi as it led the procession. If any of his past suspicions of what Optimus was to Bumblebee were correct, then Optimus would understand Ironhide's reservations better than anybody. Perhaps that was why he showed up to offer the new human a ride.

"I don't know if Optimus is comfortable with it or not," Ironhide said. "But, he allows it."

"Then why don't you just allow it too?" Will asked next.

Ironhide grew quiet again, that type of Ironhide quiet that suggested he was done talking.

Will didn't push him further. There was obviously something touchy about it, so he just settled in to try and enjoy the rest of the ride in silence.

Once again, Ironhide surprised him, "I have a carrying hold."

Quickly returning to a conversation mood, Will started to ask, "What...?"

Ironhide interrupted and answered him before he could ask the question, already anticipating what Will was asking, "Every Cybertronian who has had a sparkling has a carrying hold. It is the way we nurture them until they are strong enough to be on their own, if we choose to carry them at all."

Will was dumbfounded. Ironhide was doing two things he never did: talking about his sparkling, and explaining something cultural about his kind. Of course, Will just found out about Ironhide's sparkling from Ratchet a few months before, but the fact that he lived with Ironhide for five years and never knew of it was proof that Ironhide never spoke of it, not to mention the fact that Ironhide told him he didn't want to talk about it.

"I don't want anyone who isn't my charge riding with me. It feels too much like carrying," Ironhide said next.

Ironhide's tone suggested it wasn't something that would ever be negotiable. Will sat up a little straighter, looking around the cab of the truck. The thought that he was in the same place where Ironhide's deceased child used to sit made him feel a little uncomfortable. Actually, it made him feel very uncomfortable. Will's presence in the cab probably reminded Ironhide too much of what he'd lost.

"Am I in your carrying hold?" Will asked, a strange chill running down his spine.

"No, you're in my cab," Ironhide answered.

Will relaxed a little bit, somewhat relieved, but he still felt strange.

"What's the difference?" Will asked next.

Ironhide made a sighing sound that suggested he didn't really want to talk about this, but he went on anyway, "I didn't have a cab until I scanned the Topkick. None of us had cabs before we came to Earth." In the case of a seeker, it would be a cockpit, but Ironhide didn't think he had to explain that. "It is there because we mimic exactly what we are scanning. I would not have one if your passenger vehicles didn't have one. Since all Earth vehicles have a way to carry humans within them, then we do too, but only after we adapt to the Earth vehicle mode. Not all Cybertronians have carrying holds, so having a cab probably doesn't bother the others too much. Those of us that have had sparklings do have one, though. The cab has formed very close to my carrying hold, so when you are riding in my cab, it almost feels like I'm carrying. It isn't the same, but it's close enough that I don't want anyone else in there."

Will sat in stunned silence as he thought about everything Ironhide revealed to him. He was going to have to find a way to get his counterparts to look at these aliens as something more than war machines. These beings were fascinating as hell. At least they were starting to go in the right direction with finally approving the cultural study.

More than that, though, Will was honored and humbled that Ironhide valued his family so much, even allowing them near a space that was obviously sacred to the mech.

Will wondered just what part of the family Ironhide considered him to be. Was he like a son or a brother? Ironhide seemed somewhat distracted, so he didn't bother to ask any more questions. He got the feeling that Ironhide really was done talking now, probably conversing with Chromia over some private channel.

Will supposed it probably really didn't matter what role he was considered to be in. What mattered was that he and his family would have the same unbending protection, from the greatest warrior he had ever known or heard of, as the rest of the Autobots.

Will chuckled to himself as he imagined his daughter's future boyfriends. Having a giant alien robot Guardian was going to be _very_ interesting...

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* * *

**AN**: I thought you guys might like to see a little more Ironhide/Will interaction. The story started with that, so it seems fitting to include more here *smile* I won't be writing about Annabelle and Ironhide when she's a teen/college student bringing home boyfriends, etc., but there are lots of fun stories out there that do. If you left a review for the 'Author Concerns' chapter I posted a few months ago (which was in the ch. 54 spot, but has been removed) you may not be able to review this chapter while signed in. However, you can sign out and leave an 'anon' review if you'd like *smile* Thanks to **lady tecuma, Marinelife37, flamingmarsh, CuteKittten, plenoptic, Sslaxx, black dragon, LeggyPoo, Shizuka Taiyou, Hearts of Eternity, Lecidre, Violetlight, Wolf294, TransFlashbacks, TransformerFanette, Tramp-Graphics, illmatar, Dark-Chain, Faecat, blood-tempest, P.A.W.07, TransformersLover95, **and **Kesera **for your support through reviews, PMs, dA, MSN, and emails when things seemed so hopeless. Everyone has their breaking point, and I thank you for being there for me during mine. I am continuing this story with joy in my heart!

**SIDENOTE: **The Guardianship/ Caretaker stuff in this chapter is my idea also. (Actually, unless otherwise stated in ANs, everything written in this story is from my imagination).

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	55. Perplexities

(posted April 18, 2010)

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Night Fire

Chapter 55

Perplexities

by Litahatchee

**"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're deep in thought," **Chromia's voice permeated the bond.

Ironhide didn't respond for a long moment. He wasn't sure how Chromia would feel if he voiced exactly what he was thinking about, if he revealed to her what he had just revealed to Will.

**"Will was asking me a few questions,"** he decided to say, instead.

**"Ah, your symbiote getting curious about a few things you don't want to talk about?"** she taunted lightly.

A slight wave of irritation lapped at the bond, slighted only by the fact that Ironhide could feel she was joking, before Ironhide replied anyway, **"He's not my symbiote."**

Chromia's mirth replaced Ironhide's irritation as she continued, **"You know, Blaster can give you some pointers..."**

**"That's not even funny," **Ironhide interrupted her, a short laugh escaping him as he said it.

Symbiotes were not like sparklings, but they were as small as sparklings and they were carried like sparklings. However, symbiotes were usually full adult mechs or femmes. A Cybertronian who had a symbiotic relationship with a smaller counterpart did not have a carrying hold like Cybertronian parents, but he did have a compartment in his torso where the symbiotes would go.

The compartment was placed further out from the spark than where the carrying hold would form. Usually a medic would build the compartment and install it for the individual who wanted symbiotes. If that individual bonded and created sparklings later, then the carrying hold would still have room to form near his spark.

Symbiotes were also unlike sparklings in that they did not attach themselves to their carrier's spark. They did, however, have a direct link to the CPU of their carrier, allowing them all to share each other's thoughts continually while the symbiote rested in the compartment. It was even said that some Cybertronians could continue to share their thoughts with their symbiotes, even when the symbiote wasn't connected, especially if the symbiotic relationship remained for a long amount of time. It was different than bonded mates sharing thoughts, as sparkmates mostly just felt feelings through their bond and thoughts were only known if the sparkmates made them known to each other. With symbiotes, exact thoughts were shared as if they were always connected through their CPU ports.

Blaster had numerous symbiotes. Even though they might never see him or his symbiotes again, Chromia was having fun pointing out that he would be the one that could help Ironhide understand his symbiote better. Of course, it was just a joke. Chromia new full well that William Lennox was not Ironhide's symbiote. It probably wasn't possible to create a symbiotic relationship with a human anyway. At least, she hoped it wasn't. She might have been joking and Ironhide could feel that she was joking, but there was truth in jest a lot of the times. The way Ironhide carried on with the human, it was the closest thing she could think to compare him to.

She had no idea Ironhide considered this particular human to be way more than just a symbiote. It was disturbing enough to her to think of him as Ironhide's symbiote. Having someone other than her sparkmate sharing her thoughts and having access to her CPU at all times made her shiver involuntarily. She didn't see how anyone would want to establish a symbiotic relationship with another at all.

There was something else, though, that Ironhide seemed perplexed about. It felt beyond whatever the conversation was about in his cab.

**"Something else is troubling you," **Chromia stated, knowing full well that there was, so she didn't bother to make it a question...

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"I haven't properly introduced myself to them yet," Dave was saying as he watched both the Topkick and the Jeep Liberty following behind them.

"I apologise for the disposition of my Weapons Specialist," the disconcertingly real hologram said from the driver's seat of the semi. "He doesn't allow humans in his cab. I should have said something about that earlier. I apologise for that as well."

Dave tried his best not to stare at the hologram. He wanted to touch it, to see if it felt as real as it looked, and it was taking some serious effort not to reach over and do so.

"No apologies are necessary, but if he doesn't allow humans in his cab, then why does he let Major Lennox ride with him?" Dave asked.

This Anthropologist was observant. The more Optimus learned about his function, however, the more he realized that he was supposed to be observant. Optimus idly wondered if any detail escaped him.

"William Lennox is his charge," Optimus answered, but didn't expand any further than that.

Dave made a note to ask Major Lennox what that meant. There was some information that the 'bots weren't very forthcoming with, but since this involved the Major, then maybe he could learn more about it from him. For now, he was more interested in learning if this 'charge' thing meant that all Cybertronians only allowed humans in if they were considered 'charges.'

"Does this mean that I'm your charge?" Dave asked.

The hologram looked at him and actually chuckled. "No, it just means I'm giving you a ride. There will be no other attachments."

"I don't understand. Does that mean that you would rather me not ride with you either, or is this just something with Ironhide?" Dave wanted to know.

"Ratchet wouldn't mind you riding with him if you ever need a ride again. Bumblebee wouldn't mind either. It's just Ironhide and Chromia," Optimus answered. There were many other Autobots that wouldn't mind either, but no one else was on Earth, so Optimus didn't bother naming them all. He wasn't even sure if there were any left to name to begin with.

When Optimus gave no further explanation than that, Dave asked, "Why?"

Optimus focused on Ironhide and Chromia behind him. He knew why Ironhide let Will in and nobody else. It would be a little while before Chromia would accept it, but she always supported Ironhide's actions, no matter how extreme. Ironhide was such a warrior that few ever saw the softer side of him. It was a shame, really, even sad. One of his greatest strengths was always hidden away. It was easy to see how he could attract a mate, though those that didn't know him never understood how Chromia could so easily fall for him. Some were amazed that Ironhide's spark was even **capable **of calling to another's.

Optimus's spark grew heavy. Over the eons since Ironhide and Chromia had been mated, they should have been blessed with half a dozen sparklings by now. It saddened his spark beyond words that they'd never have another. They were so perfect for it.

"It reminds them of something," Optimus said, somewhat evasively.

There was so much about his kind that he wanted to share with the humans, but he had to be careful. The Cybertronians were still at war, and it was a dirty war at that. Anything and everything could be used against them. Not only that, but he had to protect the sensibilities of his Autobots. He wouldn't share anything about Ironhide and Chromia unless they shared it first, or, in the very least, agreed to it. Judging by their reactions to his arrangement with the humans to study them, they most definitely didn't agree to much sharing at this point.

"What, does humans riding around inside them make them feel like they're pregnant or something?" Dave asked next, chuckling to himself at the absurd thought.

Dave wasn't at all being serious, but he got to thinking about where the cab would be positioned on the robots while they were in their bipedal form. Plus, the two in question were essentially a married couple. So, the thought just kinda flew into his mind and he couldn't stop himself from voicing it.

However, it must have been somewhat correct, because the engine of the semi sputtered jerkily as it nearly stalled, the hologram going through all the motions of recovering his temperamental vehicle.

Nope, Optimus thought to himself, no detail escaped this human, it seemed. Of course, Cybertronians could not get 'pregnant' as it were, but referring to the human way of carrying a child as a comparison to what Ironhide and Chromia were reminded of was somewhat spot on. Even though 'carrying' in the Cybertronian way wasn't a pregnancy at all, letting humans ride with them did remind them of their lost sparkling.

"Oh, wow!" Dave exclaimed excitedly, unable to contain this new enlightenment, interpreting the reaction of the semi as confirmation. "Your kind can get pregnant? That's unbelievable! We've been wondering about that. That's...incredible! How do you do it? Does she show if she's pregnant? Wait wait...Is it the woman that gets pregnant, or the man?" An image of a pregnant Ironhide danced around in his head.

"No no," Optimus interrupted; the human was so excited his words started to run together. "Cybertronians cannot get pregnant, so it wouldn't be the femme or the mech that would find himself, or herself, in that condition. We don't have children like you do. We don't even have genders like you do."

Dave deflated considerably. Optimus almost felt bad about deflating his excitement, but protecting Cybertronian young was first and foremost over everything. The human was wrong about how Cybertronians could have children, so Optimus just fed on that and reinforced it. Optimus would never lie and his statement of his kind not having children like humans do could have been open-ended, but Dave did not notice in his obvious disappointment. Cybertronians didn't have children the same way that humans had them, but they **could **reproduce without the AllSpark, of course. It just wasn't something Optimus was ready to address with them, nor was he sure that they were ready to learn of it.

Dave realized that Optimus evaded his earlier question about whether or not he minded humans riding with him. Optimus had instead told him which Autobots wouldn't mind. He looked at the hologram thoughtfully. He didn't expect an explanation at this point, but he was curious about what the answer to his next question would be. He was conversing with one of the aliens and that was a good start. Optimus was more open than Ironhide, he was told, but the Autobot leader was still evasive on a lot of subjects.

"Does allowing humans to ride in your cab remind **you** of anything?" Dave asked curiously.

Optimus didn't answer for a moment, his attention focused on Bumblebee as the little bot wove in and out of traffic around Chromia.

"It does..." he finally said, giving no further answer than that.

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As Bumblebee drove next to Chromia, he was deep in thought about bonds. He stayed close to her, but he kept himself guarded. So far, she hadn't questioned him about it, but he was afraid that it was coming as soon as she could break away from the others.

Bumblebee knew Chromia felt him reaching for Optimus back at the underground facility, but he also knew that she didn't quite pick up who he was reaching for. He didn't know that she would be able to feel that he was doing that at all. The suspicious look that she gave him certainly confirmed it for him. It made him wonder if she would be able to feel Optimus if he chose to open his side of the bond. It stood to reason that she could, especially if she could feel what Bumblebee was doing to begin with.

Bumblebee had stopped reaching for Optimus immediately, but it sure was a close call. He felt that he needed to be careful with that. He didn't want her to find out that he had a connection to Optimus. For the first time in his life, he hoped that Optimus didn't open his side of the bond, for then she'd surely know.

Even though she could probably help him more than anybody and no doubt could answer all his questions about what having a bond with Optimus could mean, he was fearful of what she'd think. He wasn't even sure if Optimus was his creator or if Megatron was.

Even if Optimus was his creator, though, he still didn't want her to know. Any connection to the one that killed her sparkling would certainly make her shun him, and he didn't want that. He liked having a bond with her. He didn't want to do anything that would make her shut him out. He needed her.

He began to think that maybe he could do something for her that would make her never want to shut him out, even if she did find out about his spark connections. He could win over her spark by doing something that would mean a lot to her...but what could he do?

Chromia's spark had spiked painfully at the mention of Barricade. Bumblebee wondered what the Decepticon had done to her. She had blocked herself from him fairly immediately until she was able to calm down, but Bumblebee didn't miss her initial reaction. Maybe, if he could find Barricade and trap him somehow...He knew Optimus wouldn't approve of him killing the mech for Chromia. Bumblebee didn't really want to kill the Con anyway. But, if he could imprison him, then it could be left up to Chromia to decide what to do with him...

888

**"Tell me what Barricade did to you," **Ironhide transmitted to Chromia bluntly.

Ironhide never knew the exact details on how Megatron got ahold of Chromia at Floatilla. Considering everything that happened to them from that point on, it just really didn't matter. He had no idea that it was Barricade who had recognized her at the plaza, that it was Barricade who delivered her right into Megatron's arms. It would never have crossed his mind. Even on her worst orns, she could take Barricade on in a fight. However, during that orn, she had already been so worn down by all the other fighting that she had done, plus the fact that she had been carrying at the same time, that she really didn't stand a chance against anybody by the time they were all taken to the plaza anyway.

Chromia didn't react for a moment. She figured Ironhide was going to say something along those lines, so she was prepared for it. She wasn't sure what to say to him about it at this point. She never expected that Barricade, of all Decepticons, would one day end up on the same planet as her as one of the last of the entire Cybertronian race. She never saw him again after Floatilla. She just figured he had been killed long ago, and preferably in a horrible way at that.

Chromia would like nothing more than to sneak away from the others, hunt the bastard down, and kill him on the spot. She didn't care that he was among the last of their kind, because they'd be one less if she ever ran accross him. It sounded like she'd be doing the humans a favor too, especially since they were upset that Prime hadn't done anything about him yet, not that she cared to do anything for the humans at all.

Then there was Prime to contend with if she did run off to kill the mech. He was not kind to them after their vendetta all that time ago. He understood that losing their sparkling the way they did was horrible, but he couldn't have any of his ranks running around killing the way they were. What they were doing was just as horrible as what happened to them. Optimus even went to the extreme of separating them to make them stop; it was the only thing that actually worked. They were allowed to see each other, of course, but they weren't allowed to live together and were even stationed at separate locations, which was something that was never done with bonded mates. Optimus hated to do it, but it was the only way to keep them from making their rogue plans for revenge. They weren't helping anybody by disappearing the way they did, coming back only when it suited them. It was a war. Optimus needed dependable soldiers.

To that end, Chromia knew that telling Ironhide now was not a good idea. She knew that Ironhide wouldn't wait if he knew. Ironhide would break away right now, symbiote and all, and wouldn't return until the Con was dead. Optimus would not like that at all, and, judging by his tone with the humans on the matter and adding Ironhide and Chromia's history into the mix, the repercussions would be swift and harsh. For both of them, it was just best to keep it to herself for now.

Things were going so well. They were together and they had made a breakthrough with their loss. Even though she wanted Barricade deader than Cybertron itself, it just wasn't worth it to go after him.

As Chromia tried to decide on how to reply to Ironhide, her spark suddenly seized up in excruciating pain. The pain swept through her entire system this time and she abruptly came to a tire burning halt.

Ironhide came to a screeching halt next to her as he felt her pain sweep through their bond. Will was frantic again, trying to figure out why Ironhide suddenly stopped this time, voicing his frustration loudly. Ironhide ignored him completely, his sole focus on his sparkmate. Had Will not been in his cab, he would have transformed, but Chromia hadn't transformed yet, so he decided not to kick the human out so that he could.

Bumblebee flew right past them, but then made a sharp three sixty as he came back to stop right next to Ironhide.

"Ironhide?" Bumblebee started. "Is she..."

"She's fine," Ironhide interrupted him sharply, his first reaction being to reassure the youngling, even though he wasn't sure himself.

Ironhide was getting irritated in his worry. He was worried about her, but her stubborn refusal to see Ratchet and end this obvious problem was frustrating.

**"Don't tell me that was just the weld," **Ironhide admonished. He was sure that Bumblebee even felt that one. **"Something isn't right. Ratchet needs to know right now."**

"No," she said out loud before returning back to their inner communication. **"No, not in front of the humans."**

Chromia did not want this to turn into a side-show for the humans. She did not want to be made a spectacle of by some organic subspecies, or anyone for that matter.

Ratchet came up beside them. "Is everything okay?"

**"Please don't alert him," **Chromia continued transmitting to Ironhide. **"He'll stop this whole procession just to scan me. I'll talk to him at the building site."**

She could feel Ironhide's skepticism as he replied, **"If you don't, then I will."**

**"Just let me handle it," **Chromia said irritably. **"I'll talk to him as soon as I find a more private time."**

Ironhide could feel that her pain was subsiding again. He wasn't sure if they could afford to 'find a more private time,' and was about to tell her that. The fact that the pain wasn't continuous, though, had to mean that it wasn't urgent, he hoped. She continued moving, and sent him the reassurance he needed at the moment.

"We're fine," Ironhide answered Ratchet before he and Bumblebee followed after her.

Ratchet could tell Ironhide was hesitating about something. He idly wondered if Chromia told Ironhide about getting her spark casing replaced. Pretty soon it wouldn't matter if she told him or not, it seemed.

Ratchet could see that she was in pain. He could tell that just by looking at a Cybertronian, even one in his/her alt mode. It probably had something to do with the new weld. It wasn't unusual for her to have discomfort while it settled in, but mere discomfort wouldn't make her stop moving altogether.

Ratchet thought he could continue to just replace the weld, but now he was convinced that replacing the entire casing was becoming something that was going to have to be done. He couldn't be sure without another examination, but this wasn't the place for that. He was certain that just replacing it would end all her physical problems, though.

She seemed to be just fine for the moment as she continued moving, but as soon as they were done unloading the supplies, he would get back to the Ark and continue work on the replacement casing that he had already started on. Even if she needed it right now, he didn't have one ready yet.

Ratchet continued moving as well and drove up right next to her.

"Ratchet, I'm not in the mood," she said to him as they drove along beside each other.

"I'm just making sure," he said as he gave her a surface scan. A surface scan was the least invasive scan he could perform. He couldn't give her a deeper scan in their alt modes and while traveling at the velocity in which they were going, and especially without alerting everyone around him that he was doing it, but a surface scan would at least tell him if she was in urgent need of medical treatment.

The scan showed that Chromia certainly wasn't feeling well, but she was functioning as properly as she could. Not everything was in working order, but that wasn't at all unusual with her, especially with all her past injuries. Nothing came up that would make him want to take her back to the Ark immediately.

Ratchet sent Optimus a short report of what was happening. Optimus hadn't stopped when the others did, not wanting to alert the humans to anything that could be wrong. Instead, he contacted Ratchet to find out what was going on.

Everything was as okay as it could be, so they continued on to the Lennox's as planned.

8888


	56. Peripeteia Part I

(posted August 14, 2010)

**AN: **Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry for the long wait. Life threw some major curve-balls my way and just doesn't want to slow down. We went to China for a bit, but while we were there an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico blew up, causing an insane oil gusher that threatened the entire Gulf Coast region. I'm from Florida and when we got home from China, I was activated with Civil Air Patrol to fly oil recon missions where we took photos of the coastline as the oil came in. On top of that, we moved to Washington DC. So, this has been my life for the last four months: fly, pack, fly, pack, fly, fly, pack, pack, make the journey to DC, wait a month without internet before we could move into a base house, start unpacking (which is going to take forever), go back to Florida and fly some more, write a little on this chapter here and there, etc. It has been an **insanely** busy four months, but I've **finally **completed this chapter. Woo hoo!

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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In a conversation with **Faecat** (a binary convo, no less *wink*), we wondered whether or not Cybertronians would speak in some sort of binary code. So, there's a slight mention of that possibility in this chapter.

**Bold print **is private transmissions.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 56

Peripeteia

Part 1

by Litahatchee

Bumblebee wasn't exactly avoiding Chromia, but he was stand-offish, remaining distant in their bond, but never closing her off from it. They had arrived at the Lennox property, but they were never alone together. Chromia couldn't be sure, but she suspected that Bumblebee was keeping it that way. They kept making optic contact as the others and the humans made preparations around them to start unloading the supplies. Despite his obvious discomfort, though, his optics smiled at her every time. She tried sending him reassurance, but he couldn't be reassured. He was truly nervous about something.

Angered, she grabbed a startled Ratchet and pulled him to the side of the Lennox house, where they could be relatively alone, as inconspicuous as two giant alien robots could be next to a human habitation construct. She wasn't quite sure where Will's family was, but she wasn't detecting any sizable heat signatures in the house, so they weren't home. She did detect very tiny heat signatures that puzzled her. There weren't many of them, but there were enough to make her wonder if there was a slight infestation of small mammals. She shook her head slightly, to clear it of such an insignificant curiosity. There were more important matters to address.

"You need to work out your issues with Bumblebee," Chromia pointed her finger at Ratchet's chest, her optics narrowed to suspicious slits.

Ratchet looked at her like she installed a third optic, "What are you talking about now?"

"You and Nightfire, and Bumblebee," Chromia said without hesitation, fully confident that she knew what she was talking about and willing, at this point, to throw it in Ratchet's face. What he was doing to Bumblebee was inexcusable.

Ratchet literally froze on the spot, staring at Chromia in shock. His optics blinked once.

"Me? And Nightfire? And _Bumblebee_?" He said it as if he was trying to get something straight in his head.

"I don't know how you and Nightfire did it, but I'm on to you," Chromia continued.

Ratchet shifted his stance. "You think Nightfire and I..."

"Ah, there you are," Optimus interrupted them, having spotted them and approached them, completely oblivious to the subject of their conversation. "Ratchet, you'll be helping Ironhide."

Optimus looked at Chromia next and Ratchet knew he was about to assign her something. Despite the shock of what Chromia had been saying to him, his medical programming kicked in above all else. He wasn't sure what Optimus had in mind for her to do, but he quickly interceded through their link.

**"She'll be doing inventory,"** Ratchet transmitted.

Optimus already had that in mind. He figured Chromia wasn't in any condition to do much unloading, and Ratchet just confirmed it for him. He also realized that they were deep in discussion about something and he assumed it was probably about her health. Confident that Ratchet had everything under control, Optimus made his leave.

**"I'll let you tell her, then," **Optimus said before heading off towards a group of humans.

By the time Optimus was gone, Ratchet had composed himself. He looked Chromia right in her optics.

"He's not mine, Chromia," Ratchet stated matter of factly. Chromia opened her mouth to say something and Ratchet interrupted her, "I already told you he's not Nightfire's, either. And as much as I will admit that I would like to fantasize the possibility, he isn't _ours_. That would never have been possible."

Chromia could tell that he was sincere, but she still wasn't convinced. Surely he was hiding something. She really didn't know what else to say about it, though.

Ratchet ran a surface scan over her and noticed that her spark casing was strained. The weld was no doubt putting added stress that she didn't need to be suffering.

"Stop doing that," Chromia stated sternly.

"You don't look well," Ratchet said.

"It's been a long time since I _have _looked well," Chromia retorted.

"I'm just making sure you aren't about to collapse on us. You'll be doing no heavy lifting at all until I can get you back to the Ark," Ratchet responded.

Chromia huffed at him, "Frag off, Ratchet."

"I've already transmitted it to Optimus," Ratchet said, unaffected by her ire. "You'll be doing inventory."

"Inventory?" Chromia said incredulously, very obviously offended by the assignment. "I'm sure the humans already have an inventory."

"Probably, but we don't. Take inventory or steal theirs." Ratchet didn't bother to say that she could just ask them for it, because he knew she would never ask them. "I don't care how you do it, but you're going to be taking it easy until we get you back to the Ark and I can fit you with a new spark casing."

"Joy," Chromia said flatly, but Ratchet did not miss the sarcastic tone behind it.

Ratchet looked towards Ironhide, thinking he didn't have time to be working on this project with the humans. Even if he did take Chromia back to the Ark right then, he didn't have a new casing completed yet, not to mention he would need Ironhide to be with her, thus taking three of the five Cybertronians out of the picture. Leaving only Optimus and Bumblebee to complete this agreement would not make the humans happy at all.

Rather than wasting his time, though, he should have been back at the Ark working on the casing. He could go by himself and then call for Ironhide and Chromia later. He knew Optimus would let him go, but he also knew that it would put Optimus in a compromising position with the humans. In order for their good intentions to be known, there had to be a one hundred percent effort and in order to achieve that, they all had to be present. He briefly wondered how Mission City wasn't a one hundred percent effort, but humans were fickle.

Ratchet shunted air from his vents in resignation. He'd help Ironhide unload and then he'd take his leave and go to the Ark to complete the casing. That would have to be enough to satisfy the humans for his part.

Ratchet held a datapad out to Chromia, indicating it was time for both of them to get on with their assignments.

"Fine," she snapped, and snatched it out of his hand.

88888

Several of the humans were deeply fascinated with the 'female' Transformer, especially the one that was 'assigned' to study her and Ironhide. It was a fascination that Chromia did not share. She glared at Optimus momentarily, silently blaming him, and then caught the watchful optic of Ratchet. She turned her glare on him.

Ratchet had been watching over her since they arrived. It was like he was just waiting for her condition to worsen so that he had the excuse he needed to examine her. Ratchet didn't really need an excuse and Chromia knew it, though. Her glare on him softened, thankful that he was giving her some space for once. It was only a matter of time, however, before he decided she had had enough 'space.'

She caught her sparkmate's optics and smiled at him. She could feel his warm presence through their bond and each one had been taking turns setting fire to it all morning. She felt like she did when they first met, when the plates of attraction were being welded and she wanted nothing more than to run away with him. She could tell that Ironhide was concerned for her, but he was no longer urgently concerned as her spark played with him, calling to him, caressing him...She watched him shiver.

For whatever reason, the human assigned to them moved a little too close for her liking, her attention being diverted from Ironhide back to the too-curious humans. Energy began crackling around the weapons housings along her shoulder and forearm. The human started writing something down, looking puzzled by her actions.

Right at that moment, Will Lennox was walking by them. He stopped, suddenly, putting his hand on Dave's shoulder and steering him slightly away from Chromia. He'd seen Ironhide's forearms do that enough to know that it was an indication of agitation in a Cybertronian, extreme agitation; the kind of agitation that was usually followed by them unsubspacing those energized weapons.

"Um," he began. "You might want to keep your distance for a little while."

Before Dave could ask him what he meant, Will was gone as quickly as he came, barking orders at a supply truck for its cargo to be unloaded next.

Dave turned his attention back to Chromia, seemingly more curious than before. Chromia suddenly felt like there wasn't enough space on the Lennox property. She caught Ratchet looking in her direction again and she snarled in irritation. In fact, the entire planet seemed too small all of a sudden. If it weren't for Ironhide being as close as he was, she probably would have lost it already.

The human backed away from her quickly. He wasn't really that close anymore, but his sudden movement brought her attention back to him.

"Primus, human, that wasn't directed at you." She released air from her vents and rolled her optics at him, which he seemed to take much interest in and wrote down a few more things.

"Are you glitched?" Chromia asked him, wondering about his constant symbol drawing on his datapad.

"Glitched?" the human looked up at her in puzzlement, clearly not understanding her terminology.

"Is there something wrong with your processor?" Chromia clarified a little impatiently.

"My processor?" the human responded next, looking more confused before understanding finally caught up with him. "You mean my brain..."

"I mean your obsession with your datapad," Chromia retorted.

"Datapad?" The human's eyebrows knitted in new confusion.

"Primus, human, I'm speaking your language. What are you not understanding?" Chromia said next.

Ironhide's strong presence caressed her spark. **"Want me to get rid of that irritating fleshling?"**

Chromia let the warmth of his presence wash through their bond before responding wryly, **"Somehow I don't think Prime would approve."**

**"I could be over there and done with it, begging for Prime's forgiveness before he even realizes what I've done," **Ironhide replied, just as wryly.

**"That would seriously slag him off," **Chromia said.

**"Since when has Optimus ever been seriously slagged off with me?" **Ironhide said, feigning innocence.

Chromia snorted, **"I can think of a time or two."**

**"Or maybe I should let him bother you a little while longer. I can see he's making you angry." **Then his voice nearly blew heat through her circuits, **"I love it when you're angry."**

**"He's not making me angry," **Chromia almost laughed. **"He's just irritating me."**

Ironhide sent her a sensual shiver.

Chromia laughed out loud through her vents. She couldn't help it. **"Stop it," **she said, playfully pushing him away through their bond.

Unaware of the inner dialogue of his objects of study, the human laughed too, thinking the 'female' alien was laughing at his misunderstanding. His laughter became uncomfortable when hers stopped abruptly, her good humor dying away as swiftly as it seemed to come.

"You're talking about my notebook," the human continued amicably, trying to keep the conversation going despite the awkwardness of it. "I don't usually take notes out in the open like this. I normally wait until the end of the day to write down my observations at home," he paused, "or hotel, whatever the case may be." He shook his head, "Anyway, this is all information overload for me." He waved his hand around as if to show that he was including everything going on around him. "There's so much to take in that I'm afraid I'll forget something by the end of the day. So, um," he held up his notebook and waved it at her, indicating that he had resorted to writing down everything as he saw it.

Chromia regarded him a moment. He watched her too, noticing the intricate details of her optics, of her face in general. There was something unsettling about her gaze, but there was an inherent beauty there, and anything threatening about her stance had left her.

"You might want to give it a rest, human, before you melt something in your CPU," she finally said to him, before something seemed to catch her interest and she walked away.

Chromia had to get out of there. She had had enough of Ratchet's scrutiny and this human's interest. Even the guard that Bumblebee had in place on his side of the bond was getting to her. It wasn't so much the youngling that she was perturbed with, but the one that wasn't acknowledging him, thus making the poor bot so insecure. That was slagging her off.

Chromia threw a glance at her sparkmate. He and Ratchet were struggling with a rather large slab of concrete. She could see the bundles of cables and wiring under his armor bulging from the pressure. A thrill raced through her at the mere sight of him. A smile crossed her features. She knew how to get her mind off of things for awhile...

"My name's 'Dave,' by the way," the human called after her as the distance between them grew.

Dave turned to see Will standing there, his gaze thoughtful as he watched Chromia walk towards Ironhide.

"Well, that went well," Dave smiled at Will.

"Are you sure? That's not the way I saw it," Will sounded doubtful.

Dave wrote in his notes, 'Finally had a conversation with the female alien. Progress.'

Will relented a little. The guy seemed to be looking at the positive side of things. It was a little in contrast of what he said about Ironhide back at the base. He had been a little negative then, insinuating that Ironhide could have hurt Will's family if they had been in the barn when it burned down. Will knew better than that and probably got a little too defensive. Or, maybe the ride with Optimus taught Dave something. Will decided he'd give this Anthro guy a chance.

"Optimus told me that you're Ironhide's 'charge.' I was wondering if you'd explain what that means?" Dave asked unexpectedly next to Will.

Will didn't like it. Will didn't like it one bit. His decision to give the guy a chance shattered. He again wondered what this guy's motives were. It was too personal, or maybe Dave didn't know it was too personal, or maybe that was why Dave was asking to begin with. And if Optimus told him, then why didn't Optimus explain it? Will started empathizing with Ironhide's tendency to keep things to himself. Perhaps he was wrong in thinking that there needed to be a cultural study, or perhaps he was just being too defensive again. What information was too much? And what was it being used for, exactly?

"Optimus told you that?" Will asked rhetorically. "Huh," he grunted nondiscriminately before walking away himself.

Dave just stared after him. It seemed nobody was forthcoming with any information, not the aliens themselves, and not the humans who knew the aliens best. He opened his notebook and wrote that curiosity down.

88888

"Slaggit, Ironhide, will you just step back a little," Ratchet's voice sounded strained.

Ratchet didn't know everything about human construction, but he was certain that they poured concrete like this in the location it was needed. He wasn't sure why there were several blocks of the stuff this big and heavy that were already made. Perhaps they were going to be used for walls. He was rethinking their offer to help with this effort when he saw the blocks. The humans built them, therefore they could figure out how to move them. But, Optimus insisted. So, here they were, the three of them, trying to work it out. Ironhide, of course, was being as difficult as usual. His mind was obviously elsewhere...

Ironhide took a step back with his left foot. He and Ratchet were on either side of the block they were currently carrying, their relatively equal sizes keeping it level so that one end or the other wasn't higher, therefore not making it heavier for the bot who would end up on the lower end. Optimus was just there to help them keep their balance, stepping in to help hold or push the top when he needed to.

"Not that foot, you fragger!" Ratchet yelled when he suddenly lost balance.

Optimus immediately stepped in to help him. He didn't say anything; he stopped trying to supervise them nearly a joor before, especially when it was clear that they were going to argue no matter what. His suggestions only made their arguments more intense, so he stopped making them. They were getting the job done, so that was what mattered. Besides that, he was slightly entertained by their insults to each other. They had always been like that for as long as he knew them and it was somehow a comfort that some things never changed, even something as pointless as two of his mechs arguing.

"You told me to step back, you useless pile of scrap metal," Ironhide ground out. "If you want me to read your glitched processor, then you better be prepared for me to drop this thing while I tap you, because that seems to be the only way I'm going to know what you're thinking."

Optimus winced at the threat, but couldn't help but smile a little. Ironhide was no-holds-barred with just about everything he did, so him making a threat like that didn't surprise Optimus in the least.

Ratchet paused to stare at Ironhide. "You are one sick fragger, you know that?"

Ironhide glared back. "If you want me to step back with my right foot, then _tell _me to step back with my fragging right foot. I can't read your fragging mind."

Ratchet pushed on his end of the block to get Ironhide moving again, ordering, "Fine, then step back with your fragging right foot, you glitch head."

Right at that moment, Chromia walked by, dragging a finger across Ironhide's back from his left hip to his right shoulder, using a slight magnetic pulse so that he could feel it through his armor. She turned around and flashed him a seductive smile before disappearing into the trees they hid in when the barn burned down. Ratchet was certain that wasn't the only seductive thing she flashed her sparkmate as Ironhide stopped moving to stare after her, his optics briefly flaring.

"Ironhide?" Ratchet tried to snap him out of it. He even pushed the block towards Ironhide again to get his attention.

Instead of stepping back like he should have, Ironhide completely let go and followed after his mate. The forward momentum Ratchet had started, along with Ironhide just letting his end drop, sent the block tumbling to the ground and Ratchet falling over the top of it.

"Ironhide!" he yelled, cursing the pair as he hit the ground in a hard fall that jarred on his emergency sirens.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to look over and see what the commotion was all about. The humans didn't quite know what was going on, because the bots had been speaking in their own language the entire time, but the noisy sirens certainly got their attention.

The Cybertronians continued communicating in their own language and Dave wondered, despite the noise, what the phrase would be for a race of robot beings who had no tongues. It wouldn't be: 'speaking in their own tongue.' Perhaps it would be: 'speaking in their own binary.'

Ratchet quickly turned off his sirens and then stared up at Optimus from the ground.

"Where were you?" he asked, wondering why Optimus didn't try to grab the other end when Ironhide let go.

Optimus reached out his hand and helped Ratchet to his feet, saying, "That was...unexpected." Ironhide could still surprise him after all this time.

Optimus looked in the direction the sparkmates went and decided to give them their moment. From what he understood, they hadn't had much reacquainting time, preferring to avoid each other for awhile. It was a good thing that they were no longer avoiding each other. As long as they didn't next burn the woods down...

"I think it might be a good time to take a break," Optimus said after a moment.

They didn't have any energon on site, but the humans brought a few fuel trucks along for Cybertronian consumption if they needed or wanted it. It was certainly not up to the best Cybertronian standards, not even the lowest, but it was still consumable, so Optimus and Ratchet headed towards the trucks. Bumblebee joined them.

Bumblebee stared out in the direction that Ironhide and Chromia had gone. He then looked at Optimus and Ratchet preparing barrels of fuel for themselves, before looking out towards the woods again. He seemed to be weighing his options to say what was on his mind. He couldn't feel anything revealing about the mates through his bond with Chromia. All he could feel was contentment. That's all he _would_ feel, he realized, as he didn't know if or when they were joining on the Ark.

Bumblebee looked at Ratchet and Optimus again. Ratchet gave his barrel of fuel a distasteful look before taking a guarded sip of the stuff. Optimus got his at another truck nearby and was walking back with it.

"Does merging sparks feel good?" Bumblebee asked after a few more moments.

Ratchet choked on the horrid-tasting barrel of fuel, the awful stuff making its way down his throat despite his sudden rejection of it. Optimus tripped, spilling some of his as he did so. Once they recovered, they both looked at Bumblebee, who gave them an innocent shrug.

**"I'm going to let **_**you**_** handle that one,"** Ratchet transmitted as he went to find a place to sit down.

Right then, plasma-fire echoed from the trees. The humans all jumped down on the ground.

Will looked over at the fueling Cybertronians in alarm. However, none of them looked concerned. In fact, they looked about as unconcerned as they could be. Bumblebee even had a curious look on his face and Ratchet was shaking his head about something a little distance away. Optimus spotted Will and seemed relieved to find a reason to leave the company of both Ratchet and Bumblebee, walking over to Will and the rest of the humans to explain that there was no cause for alarm.

Ratchet continued to shake his head as he sat down next to one of the fuel trucks. It was a good time to take a break, indeed.

88888

Chromia hadn't felt this alive in a long time. She wanted to spar with her sparkmate and run wild and free to their sparks' content. The woods didn't cover a very large area, so she couldn't run far at all, but she was still enjoying the chase, as short lived as it was.

They were more playful than they'd been in a long time. Chromia even took a playful shot at him as he gained on her. She heard him laugh. They were no longer worried about the black hole. They never doubted their bond, but they hadn't felt this free since Floatilla. They were going to join without any inhibitions whatsoever, and after a day of revelling in each other's presence, they were both ready for it.

**"You're mine, femme," **he transmitted, his presence in the bond flaring dominantly.

Ironhide pounced on her, her spark soaring with elation as his demanded to merge. Chromia laughed as she went down, Ironhide immediately taking control as he drug her beneath his bulk. His mouthplates met her audios and he pressed his head into the side of her cheekplating as he slid that mouth down the side of her neck, nibbling on the wiring as he went.

Chromia wrapped her legs around his, digging her clawed fingers under the armor of his back, arching into him as he groped every surface of her body.

Ironhide crushed his chestplating against hers, pushing his presence through the bond until he had her moaning deliciously. He suddenly stopped, freezing in place as he felt something familiar in her spark, or was it near her spark? He pushed himself up on his elbows as he gazed at her chest. The impossibilities of it wouldn't allow his processor to compute what it could be and why it was so familiar.

Chromia groaned impatiently. "What's the matter?"

Ironhide looked at her and then looked at her chest. "You don't feel that?"

Chromia gave him a puzzled expression before thrusting herself through the bond, inflaming his spark.

"I feel _that_," she said voluptuously.

All thoughts of the other completely left him as he growled sensuously, inflaming her spark in return. If _she_ didn't feel anything different, then it had to be nothing.

His hand caressed her chassis as he thumbed the latch to open it. She arched against him again, encouraging him.

Ironhide nearly jumped when Ratchet's sharp voice cut through their link, **"Ironhide, if you're thinking of joining, don't. Do not open her chassis until I can examine that weld."**

Ironhide froze in place again, listening to Ratchet. Chromia had currently been lavishing attention to the wiring in his neck with her mouthplates. Her head thumped back against the ground when he stopped moving again.

"Frag, what now?" she bit out.

Ironhide gazed into her optics, deciding whether or not he cared to listen to Ratchet.

"Ratchet just told me not to open your chassis," he decided on telling her why he stopped.

"You're kidding me," Chromia said, deadpan. "He's been wanting us to join all this time, and now he doesn't want us to join?" Chromia suddenly grasped the back of Ironhide's head and connected to his CPU. She accessed Ironhide's link with Ratchet and transmitted, **"Make up your fragging mind, you fragger!" **

Ironhide quickly shut down the link, but he wasn't upset with her at all for pulling such a stunt. She was a femme after his own spark, after all. He just didn't want to hear Ratchet's retort, or his surprise at what Chromia was doing.

"Primus, femme," he chuckled.

Chromia was clearly strained beneath him, so Ironhide rolled to his side next to her to alleviate any pressure his weight was causing. He reached out and caressed her face.

"Any thought of just ignoring him?" she asked dubiously, catching his fingers with her mouthplates as they brushed by.

"Oh, yes," he replied, but he restrained himself, his concern for her making it easy to do so. "Something isn't quite right, is is? Maybe we should listen to him."

Chromia turned her head away in disappointment, not having the strength to just jump the mech herself.

"I'll be glad when we don't have to answer to medics ever again," she commented. She still hadn't told him about Ratchet's plan to try replacing her casing, but she didn't want to go into it now either. One orn hadn't quite passed yet, and Ironhide had promised her one orn of somewhat normalcy.

"I don't know how that would be possible, but that would be nice," Ironhide rumbled from beside her.

Ironhide just held her a moment, tracing the features of her turned face with his fingers. She suddenly turned towards him again, some new mischief gleaming in her optics.

"I bet you can't sneak up on him," she said, changing the subject drastically in the hopes to divert his worry and attention elsewhere.

"What are you talking about, femme?"

"I bet you can't sneak up on Ratchet," she proposed. Ironhide never was really able to sneak up on the medic. Charging in was usually his best tactic. It was more something they did in their younger vorns, but Chromia was feeling young, at the moment, and the sentiment spread through the bond to Ironhide.

"I'm an excellent stalker," Ironhide said, matter of factly, taking the bait, his attention being diverted rather easily.

He was, but Chromia still liked to challenge him. Nothing was a greater challenge than Ratchet. As a medic, he was hypersensitive, making it difficult to get near him without him detecting it somehow.

"Then prove it."

88888

It went exactly as Chromia thought it would. Ironhide made it to within two arms' lengths of Ratchet. But, when he went to jump the medic, Ratchet stood up and merely moved to the side, Ironhide flying over the spot he had been sitting, landing hard on the ground on the other side with a grunt.

Ratchet walked up next to him as he rolled over on his back on the ground. "That was pathetic."

Chromia laughed from behind them and Ironhide gave her a hurt expression, which only made her laugh harder.

Ratchet had just spent the last few breems amusing himself with Optimus avoiding Bumblebee's curiosity with sparkmates, so he wasn't in a terribly bad mood when Ironhide tried to sneak up and tackle him. He picked Ironhide up on his sensors as soon as the mech left the treeline. A slight grin crossed his face when Chromia laughed and Ironhide looked betrayed. It felt like old times, like they all were before the war got so bad. He'd never admit it, but the only thing missing in this mischief were the Twins.

Taking advantage of Ratchet's sudden thoughtful state, Ironhide took him by surprise, sweeping his legs out from under him from his position on the ground. The barrel of fuel he'd been holding flipped up into the air and landed next to them as Ratchet hit the ground, hard enough to set his sirens off again. Ironhide started laughing and quickly straddled the mech, overpowering him as they started wrestling each other for dominance.

"Get off me, you fragger!" Ratchet growled irritably, his previous good humor melting away now that he was losing.

"You're such a sore loser," Ironhide responded.

Fueled by the desire to win this match, Ratchet twisted his body to the side, throwing Ironhide off, and positioning himself to wrap his arms under and around Ironhide's to grab the back of the mech's head with his hands. It was a deadlock, and now it was Ironhide's turn to growl in irritation.

"Who's the sore loser now?" Ratchet said triumphantly. If Ironhide wasn't winning, he was losing, even if it was a tie.

Dave and Will stood next to each other as they and the other humans watched the Cybertronians. None of them had ever seen any of the aliens being playful. Many of them didn't even know they were capable.

"Is this normal?" Dave asked from beside Will.

Will shrugged his shoulders, "I've never seen it."

Dave jotted something down in his notebook. Will glanced at it and then glanced at Colonel Lagier. Surely this would go down as part of the irrefutable proof that these beings were sentient.

Optimus watched the mechs play with a smile on his face. This building effort was good for them all. It was good for them to work together towards something again that didn't have to do with war. Optimus felt a lightness in his spark that he hadn't felt in a long time. For once, he didn't feel like the universe was crashing down around him. It warmed his spark to see everyone so jovial. It made him feel like there was less of no hope, a little pressure being lifted from his worries.

Optimus looked at Bumblebee. The youngling looked like he wanted to join in, but wasn't quite sure how to approach it. Optimus was hesitant at first, but he began to open up his side of the bond to encourage the young mech to just go for it.

Bumblebee looked up at him in surprise. He was still a little guarded, but he couldn't deny such a strong presence in his spark, especially when Optimus rarely opened up to him at all. Bumblebee's side of the bond flew open, reaching out and grabbing hold of Optimus's spark in the hopes of never having to let go again.

Optimus was surprised to find that the ache in his spark from the recent development with his distanced sparkmate was immediately abated. Optimus wasn't sure if what he had was sparkshock or just sparkache, but Bumblebee could help just the same. He had seen Bumblebee's presence help someone with sparkshock before...

Optimus felt another connection in Bumblebee's spark that he hadn't felt before. He was puzzled by it, looking down at the grass as he tried to explore it. When he looked up again, Chromia was staring right at him...

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	57. Peripeteia Part II

(posted Aug. 28, 2010)

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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This is a big one (not the longest, but in revelatory quality)! Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 57

Peripeteia

Part II

by Litahatchee

Chromia's expression did not betray her surprise, but Optimus could feel it in Bumblebee's spark until it became a tangible lump of shock in his own. He noticed Ironhide idly scratching is chest, no doubt feeling Chromia's immense shock and puzzling over it.

Optimus knew about the femme-youngling bond, but it had been a long time since he'd been around a femme and Bumblebee at the same time. He just wasn't thinking and he immediately berated himself for not being more careful. He felt Bumblebee doing the same before blocking off his side of the bond with both Optimus and Chromia. Chromia's presence immediately disappeared from his spark's perception.

Optimus held Chromia's gaze for a few moments, unsure of what the next step would be. When he decided she wasn't about to launch herself at him, he started to turn around.

"Don't walk away from this!" Chromia's sharp voice cut through the air and everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her.

Optimus cringed inwardly. Maybe she was going to launch herself at him after all...

None of the humans knew what the female alien had just said, but it was obvious that she was angry. The alien medic looked like he was about to say something when Colonel Lagier noticed something that perturbed him. He wasn't oblivious to the female alien suddenly catching everyone's attention, but that didn't keep him from making his displeasure known either.

"I thought there was going to be a place for a window," the colonel announced while looking at the stack of very solid blocks.

This wasn't just going to be a 'barn.' It was going to look like a barn from the outside, but the inside was going to very much be a living space for Lennox's alien residents. Some of the structure would even span underground, giving Ironhide and Chromia the room they needed for their size, but the outside would look like an inconspicuous barn. No passersby would give a second thought to it, as there would be no indication that aliens actually lived in there.

The living space inside would be fortified, especially to keep the two aliens safe from attack if any of their enemy ever found them. However, the place where they would recharge was to be doubly fortified. There would be places for humans to go in and out and watch the aliens, something that was obviously a very sore point with them, but the colonel thought there would be a window into their recharge area as well.

"You," Ratchet directed his accusatory tone at Optimus. If he had known that Optimus was behind the construction of the blocks, he would have told him that he could figure out another way to move the damn things.

Now it made sense what the blocks were for. Ratchet was correct in thinking that they were walls, but they were going to be stacked against each other at a designated height and width and would be serving as walls, floor, and ceiling to Ironhide and Chromia's berthroom. The doubly fortified enclosure wasn't just for protection. It was to keep spark energy from getting out during joining.

It was no wonder that there would be no window there, but Ratchet was sure that none of the humans, save for Will and his wife, knew the needs of Cybertronian sparkmates, or whether or not they were even capable of certain forms of love. Colonel Lagier most likely just thought that they'd only be recharging in there and was probably under the assumption that it would be doubly reinforced because the Cybertronians would be vulnerable in recharge. Recharging was a fairly innocent act and a logical source of study. Even so, though, even Ratchet thought it would be kinda creepy if some alien organic wanted to watch him while he slept.

"A window? Are you out of your fragging mind?" Ironhide erupted.

An argument ensued between Colonel Lagier and Ironhide, Ratchet and Will immediately trying to mediate it and failing horribly.

However, and despite the commotion around them, Optimus and Chromia were only focused on one thing. Everything else was just background noise. They hadn't broken optic contact since the whole thing started, and Bumblebee hovered in between them, unsure of what was to come, but scared to death of the implications that now Chromia knew he had a spark-bond with Prime.

As if things couldn't get any more awkward, Bumblebee spotted Sam and Mikaela approaching the group on Mikaela's vespa. He mentally kicked himself, just then remembering when their exams ended and that they were now on break. Everyone was there now, minus only Will's wife and children, and as little as Bumblebee truly knew Chromia, he knew her enough to know that she reacted to things much the same way Ironhide did. He had to think of something quick.

Mikaela drove right up to the crowd and parked near the large cement blocks. Sam jumped off and waved to everyone lamely, "Hi, everybody!"

Mikaela rolled her eyes at him, but smiled nonetheless as she dismounted the bike too.

Both of them noticed the new Transformer and immediately knew it had to be Ironhide's sparkmate. She was a little smaller than the other Cybertronians and could be considered 'feminine.' The next thing Sam noticed about her was how fierce she looked, even scary. Something about her sent chills down his spine. She looked positively angry. He gave an involuntary shudder. Then he heard Mikaela say, "She's beautiful."

Sam gave his girlfriend a puzzled look before surveying the scene around them. Ironhide was locked in a bitter argument with Colonel Lagier, Will and Ratchet stuck in the middle of it and not having much luck, looking for a way out. Ironhide's mate seemed to be locked in a staring contest with Prime. Bumblebee stood nervously between them, his stance suggesting that he thought Chromia would attack Optimus at any moment and that he intended to stop it. It occurred to Sam that she looked angry because she quite possibly _was_ angry.

Sam rubbed the back of his head, "Uh, is this a bad time?"

Everyone stopped and turned towards Sam, who just kinda laughed nervously. Optimus looked at Sam and then used the momentary distraction as an opportunity to make his leave.

Sam watched him walk away, "That was weird."

"I can't believe you!" Chromia yelled at Optimus in Cybertronian, starting after him, outraged that he would dismiss this revelation so easily.

Bumblebee immediately jumped in her path.

**"Please,"** he said through their bond. **"Please don't make this harder than it is."**

Chromia couldn't believe what she was hearing from the youngling. **"How could I **_**possibly**_** make this any harder than it is?"**

Bumblebee's expression was pained, his spark in obvious turmoil. He looked around the group and then suddenly transformed, speeding past Optimus and off of the property.

"Okay, that was weirder," Sam said next.

Ironhide completely forgot his argument, no longer caring what the humans wanted to plan with his domicile as he watched his youngling speed away.

**"What's going on?" **he transmitted to Chromia, suspicion growing in his spark as to what her surprise was about.

**"Something just happened." **Chromia sounded urgent, her spark being torn in so many directions, Ironhide couldn't get a handle on her emotions.

**"Yea, we can see that," **Ironhide pressed.

**"I'm sorry, Hide, I'll explain later." **Chromia transformed and sped away after Bumblebee.

Ironhide knew something was wrong, as if her earlier shock wasn't enough evidence of that. But, Chromia had been wanting to meet the human that killed Megatron ever since she learned of it. And now the human was standing right before them and she didn't even notice him. She would have recognized him from the files Ironhide shared with her about him.

Ironhide's spark jolted in alarm as he realized she must have just learned that Bumblebee had a spark bond with Optimus. It was something he always knew deep down, but also something he never wanted to acknowledge. He didn't know the extent of what that bond could be, and he was perfectly happy to live in ignorance of its depth. He did not want to know what it could mean of Bumblebee's relation to Megatron. As far as he was concerned, Bumblebee was _his _youngling.

888

Bumblebee didn't go far and when Chromia caught up with him, he had already transformed. He didn't run away from her again, but he was extremely nervous.

Chromia watched Bumblebee pace back and forth, both of their sparks agitated and anxious, feeding the feeling in each of them as Bumblebee could no longer keep his block up.

"I thought you didn't know who your creators were," Chromia finally spoke.

She didn't mean for it to come out accusatory, but she also couldn't keep silent about it either. She felt a little like he had been leading her on, especially after their talk of his lost bonds before.

Bumblebee stopped pacing to look at her. "I don't know for sure. He never actually told me what it means for sure."

"How can you not know?" Chromia asked as gently as possible. "You can't have a connection like that and not know _something_."

Chromia paused when Bumblebee looked at her like he was searching for affirmation. The poor bot really didn't know for sure. She couldn't blame him for not being told. The blame rested on only one mech's shoulders, and that mech wasn't Bumblebee.

"That mech is your creator," Chromia stated confidently, almost happily for Bumblebee's sake, trying to give him the affirmation he desperately needed. "There isn't anyone else who you'd have such a strong connection to..."

The pain in Bumblebee's most recent lost bond flared to life, puzzling Chromia as to why Bumblebee would be bothered by it at that moment. Chromia's optics then widened in shock as realization came crashing through her spark, images of her sparkling's death coming forward unbidden, memories of the horrible laughter of the one that caused them so much pain freezing her energon.

"Oh, Primus," Chromia sank to her knees, the familiar feeling of helplessness threatening to paralyze her, this new revelation and obvious possibility being too much for her to bear.

It wasn't that Bumblebee didn't know of the importance of his spark bonds. It was that he didn't know which one of the two brothers, he was so strongly connected to, was his creator: Optimus...or Megatron.

Chromia suddenly didn't know if she could help this youngling and the stark fear of rejection from Bumblebee's spark seared a hole into her very being. Not only did he not know which brother was his creator, but he was afraid to know. He was afraid what it could mean if he was Megatron's. He was afraid of what it would mean to Ironhide. And now, knowing what Megatron did to Ironhide's sparkling, he was afraid of what it could mean to the family unit he so wanted to be a part of.

"The AllSpark said it was Optimus," Bumblebee started, hesitated before revealing the next truth, "but my bond with Megatron was just as strong." He looked at his feet. "The AllSpark was weird. It didn't even recognize me." He looked back at Chromia again. "What if it was wrong?"

All Chromia could do was shake her head. There was too much being revealed to her than she could handle at that moment. Bumblebee spoke with the AllSpark? That must have been before it was destroyed. The thought of the AllSpark's destruction caused Chromia's spark to spiral further into depression.

"It would kill Ironhide if it were Megatron," Bumblebee continued. "Part of me doesn't want to know...And you'll reject me too."

Bumblebee watched her, afraid that her reaction was confirmation enough of his fears. He transformed again, the Camaro speeding away as fast as it could.

Chromia watched him go, whispering at his retreating form, "I'm not rejecting you."

888

Chromia just sat there, trying to muddle through everything that had just happened. Optimus having a sparkling barely crossed her mind. Sure, she had thought of it, but she never entertained the possibility as being real. Elita never spoke of it and she would have told Chromia if they had a sparkling, Chromia was sure of that. Yet, something wasn't adding up.

She was still certain that the other lost bond Bumblebee was suffering from was from Nightfire. Yet, Bumblebee did not seem old enough to have ever even heard of Nightfire, much less actually having been around her enough to form such a strong bond. And what Bumblebee had just said about the AllSpark not recognizing him made no sense at all.

Chromia felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Optimus kneel down next to her. Anger coursed through her circuits, but she couldn't muster up enough energy to take anything out on him. Now she was just getting tired, too weary from her raging emotions and now just wanting answers.

"Ironhide would give both his canons and his other optic to have that youngling be his," Chromia began, surprising even herself at how calm she sounded, despite the turmoil in her mind and spark.

Optimus didn't say anything. He simply nodded his head, bowing it slightly as if he was no longer able to carry the weight.

Bumblebee was right; it would kill Ironhide to learn if Bumblebee was Megatron's sparkling. Chromia didn't even know if she could handle that possibility herself. Chromia couldn't stop the guilt from seeping into her mind. Would she really treat Bumblebee any differently if he belonged to Megatron? The youngling was obviously a very caring, loving, and gentle spark. It wasn't his fault who his creators might have been. However, she needed to know anyway.

"Optimus, I have to know, is he yours or Megatron's?" Chromia's voice sounded so small that she had to think about it to make sure she'd actually said it.

Optimus cycled air through his vents, preparing to reveal an age-old secret that had been gnawing at him since its inception. He was just never certain how best to reveal it, though he certainly had no plans to reveal it while the war was on

Optimus settled beside Chromia and looked up at the sky before answering, "He's mine."

Chromia was noticeably relieved to hear that. Her spark still felt heavy, but she was happy to get that giant weight lifted. She might not have treated Bumblebee any differently, but it was a relief to know for sure. It would be a relief to Bumblebee as well.

"What you are doing to him is wrong," Chromia stated from beside him. "He needs to know too." Chromia suddenly turned on him. "And if you tell me you're protecting him and Elita, then I'm going to shoot you. I've had just about enough of you mechs trying to protect us all from each other."

Optimus didn't have anything to say to that, his silence confirmation of that fact. Chromia snorted at him in disgust.

"Still, I can't believe Elita didn't tell me," Chromia said next, her voice sounding resigned and sad.

Optimus shifted uncomfortably, giving a great sigh from his vents before stating his greatest worry of all, "Elita doesn't know."

Chromia just stared at him, her mouth opening and closing as her spark tried to process the third, or maybe it was fourth, shock of the day.

"What?" she started. "How is that possible?"

Chromia only knew of two ways to get a sparkling: through the AllSpark and through bonded pairs. A third option would be unthinkable. It would be unheard of. However, she did initially believe that Ratchet and Nightfire had found a way, so...

Optimus's voice interrupted her train of thought, "Nightfire and I..."

Chromia's vents suddenly filled with coolant and she gave a great coughing noise as she tried to clear them. She didn't think she could handle any more surprises this orn. She rubbed at her chest as her spark spiked in pain. This particular time was not a good one for her weld to choose to act up again...

Optimus realized what she thought it sounded like and backpeddled, "No, wait, that's not what I meant. He's not Nightfire's," Optimus explained. "My love and my spark belong to Elita One."

Visibly relieved to hear that there was no infidelity involved, Chromia turned her gaze out towards the terrain. She still wasn't sure what Nightfire had to do with all this, but there was more at work here than just one single Decepticon femme.

"There's another way, isn't there?" she said after a few moments, her spark spiking again and she winced, shifting forward a little to try and relieve it. "All this time; the femmes wiped out, the AllSpark lost to space and then destroyed...Yet, there's another way and you've known it all this time..."

Chromia's entire frame suddenly seized up in intense pain. It was the worst seizure yet, and Chromia couldn't keep it from her bond with Ironhide.

Ironhide immediately jumped in with concern, **"Mia? What's happening?"**

Chromia tried to will it away, but a wave of agony came next and she thought her spark might burst through the weld of her casing.

**"I don't know,"** she managed to transmit. **"It's not subsiding."**

The next thing that Chromia knew was that Optimus was carrying her.

"Chromia? Chromia?" he was calling her name, shaking her slightly into consciousness. "Stay with me, Chromia."

She didn't remember him picking her up, but he was running with her in his arms towards the Lennox property. Ironhide's frenzied panic was so tangible that she almost believed that he was the one carrying her instead of Optimus.

The next bout of agony drowned out Ironhide's panic completely and she vaguely thought she heard him yell out.

The next thing she knew she was in Ratchet's arms, a makeshift berth being made for her under the tent-like temporary shelter that Optimus had been recharging in since soon after she arrived to Earth.

"Frag, something must have ruptured," Ratchet commented, next running the deepest scan he possessed over her chassis.

Ratchet paused when he got to her spark and ran the scan again. "It can't be..."

There was something else in her casing that was putting added pressure on her spark, the casing, and the weld at the same time. He cursed himself for not doing a deep-scan earlier. This was an emergency that could have been prevented. He wasn't a hundred percent sure what the anomaly was, but the one thing that was for sure was that it had to be removed immediately.

Chromia seized up again, Ironhide voicing the pain in the form of a harsh grunt from his vantage point at the entrance of the shelter. None of them could stand up fully. Ratchet was on his knees next to Chromia, while Chromia was laid out flat next to him. Ironhide was kneeling on one knee, leaning in as far as he could. Optimus waited outside, turning away the curious human bystanders.

Ironhide looked at Ratchet when he realized Ratchet was watching him.

"Don't ask me to be calm," Ironhide warned through gritted dentals, already anticipating Ratchet's thoughts.

"You need to try to be," Ratchet said anyway, and Ironhide growled at him irritably.

Ratchet turned back to Chromia and placed his hands on her chassis. He didn't want to just open it without taking a few precautions, for fear that her spark might burst out of the bottom of the casing. He didn't have any way to contain it if that happened.

He slowly and carefully thumbed the latch, waiting a few moments to make sure the simple act wouldn't trigger anything. When nothing happened, he began to pull open her chassis while applying downward pressure to keep her spark and casing intact. Slowly, with infinite ease, he found that it would be okay to open it all the way.

Ratchet's reaction was immediate upon looking down at her spark. He visibly flinched, a slight gasp of surprise escaping him as he realized that what his scan was showing him was true.

Ironhide couldn't see what Ratchet was looking at, his bulk blocking his view of his mate's spark. If he hadn't been so worried, he would have given Ratchet a retort about who should be keeping calm here.

"Ratchet?" Ironhide started.

Ratchet just sat there, staring, dumbfounded, emotions of elation and the seriousness of what he was about to have to do warring within his spark.

"Ratchet?" Chromia asked weakly. "What is it?"

Ratchet's brow-plating knitted in concern. He knew there was something wrong already, her already-damaged casing being a testament to that. However, the fact that she couldn't feel what it was showed just how much more serious the problem was than he first suspected.

He tried to place a calming hand on her shoulder, but he couldn't keep it from shaking.

"You...Your spark has split," Ratchet started. "You have a sparkling."

8888


	58. Nightfire Part II

(posted Sept. 18, 2010)

**Disclaimer: **All Transformers characters, settings, etc. are the property of Hasbro and any other respective owners. Any original characters AND THE PLOT are the intellectual property of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. No part of the story, ideas, or OC's are to be used without the express permission of Litahatchee/ Letohatchee. Litahatchee/ Letohatchee is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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**THANK YOUs:** As always, special thanks to all of my inspiration: **Karategal, lady tecuma, Hearts of Eternity,** **grlwdgrntrk, Violetlight, Phoenix13, **and **Leggypoo. **The name, Nightfire, belongs to **lady tecuma**. (I don't want to give anything away, so more praise to Tecuma next chapter *smile*)

**Slight warning**: This is an emotionally charged chapter, so if you are looking for something light, you might want to wait a bit.

**NOTE**: All of the ideas in this chapter are mine. I dredged them up from the recesses of my brain and presented them here to you for your enjoyment. This was an insanely difficult chapter to write. X.X. On another note, yesterday was the three year anniversary for the start of this storyline!

**Chapter Dedication: **This chapter is dedicated to **Bluebird Soaring**. Last chapter and this chapter will probably be very difficult for her to read and I was thinking about her the entire time. She holds a special place in my heart.

This is a big one (in length and revelatory quality)! Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 58

Nightfire

by Litahatchee

Chromia's reaction was immediate. She reached out and grabbed Ratchet as if he were the only lifeline she could cling to and pulled herself up.

"I can't feel it!" she cried out in desperation. "Ratchet! Why can't I feel it!"

Ratchet tried to gently push her back down and calm her as best he could. "Chromia, you need to try to relax."

He didn't dare give her a sedative, for the same reasons he didn't give her any after Floatilla. He didn't try mag pulses either, because he wasn't sure what that would do to the newspark.

As Ratchet ran more scans, he realized that the reason Chromia's spark casing was strained was because of the newspark. The sparkling could not stay in the damaged casing. It could not develop properly and the more it tried, the more damaged the casing became. Ratchet also noted that the presence of the sparkling was causing the weld to deteriorate at a rapid rate.

The newspark flared brightly as Chromia panicked. She cried out in pain and Ratchet tried to steady her. He had to find a way to calm her down. The sparkling's reactions to her panic was causing more harm to her casing.

"That was the sparkling," he explained why her pain suddenly increased, hoping that she'd calm down some knowing that she could feel the sparkling in some way, at least. He didn't understand why she wasn't picking it up through a bond and obviously neither could she.

"Please, you need to calm down so it will be calm too."

Ratchet realized he hadn't heard a sound from Ironhide at all, so he looked over to make sure the mech was okay.

Ironhide was looking at his chest, his hands over his spark. Ironhide knew, he knew he felt something familiar when they were in the trees. Now he realized why it was so familiar. He couldn't allow himself to even dream of it before, but now it made sense. It felt like Sunshadow did when he was still being held in Chromia's spark-casing, nestled right next to her spark. It wasn't just like Sunshadow, but it had a similar impression. It was weak, but it was there, both the sparkling and the frequency emanating from it.

"I...I can feel her," Ironhide said softly, his voice thick with concern and surprise.

Creators knew what kind of spark their sparkling was. They could tell immediately though the bond. Medics could tell upon looking at it but, most of the time, the creators knew before their medic did. In this case, Ratchet didn't want to let on that he knew, especially to Chromia in her panic. A sparkling was precious, but a femme-spark was infinitely so, especially now. It raised the stakes and made the emergency beyond anything he'd ever had to deal with before. He didn't want to throw Chromia further into panic, even though the panic within himself was growing by the astrosecond. He felt like purging his tanks, the low-grade Earth fuel he'd consumed earlier swirling uncomfortably in his systems.

Thankfully, Chromia wasn't sent into further panic upon learning that the sparkling was a femme. Instead, she became more calm with the knowledge that Ironhide could at least feel their sparkling. She was far from settled, but her grip on Ratchet loosened.

It was more like she was resigning herself. She understood that she possessed a sparkling, but that she couldn't feel it in her spark. Ironhide could, though, so that made it more real to her. However, she also understood how much trouble she was in. Ratchet had already seen a need to transfer her spark to a new casing, which was an incredible risk. Now, with a sparkling involved...Chromia didn't want to even think of the impossibilities.

Suddenly, nothing was more important to her than to know that the sparkling was there within her own spark. She reached out to Ironhide, beckoning him to get closer to her in the hopes that she could feel the sparkling through him but, just as it was within reach, Ironhide flinched away.

"No!" she cried. "Ironhide, please..." Ironhide was protecting her and they both knew it. She didn't even have the spark to be angry with him. She just wanted to feel it, even if the unthinkable happened, but his fear of what that would do to her became overpowering.

Ratchet could see absolute terror written all over Ironhide's face. Ironhide was horrified. He didn't have to be a medic to know something wasn't right. In fact, it was about as far from right as it could get. He looked like he was about to be sick, he was so worried. An astrosecond after Ratchet had that thought, Ironhide left the tent and purged the contents of his tanks.

888

Sam and Mikaela stood with the others as they all tried to figure out the sudden change in the Cybertronians. Like Will and some guy they didn't recognize before them, they had asked Optimus what was going on, but all Optimus had said was that there was nothing to be worried about.

"I wonder what's really going on?" Mikaela asked.

"I don't know," Sam shrugged his shoulders, thoughtful.

They were still puzzling over Bumblebee's behavior as well. The first thing they knew when they got there was that there was an argument going on between Ironhide and the Army colonel. They weren't quite sure, but there also seemed to be an argument going on between Ironhide's mate and Optimus. Then Bumblebee just sorta took off without so much as a 'how do you do' to his human pals. Then Ironhide's mate took of after him and then Optimus took off after her.

As if none of that was strange enough, Optimus returns in a rush, carrying the 'female' Cybertronian. None of the aliens at that point were having anything to do with the humans at all. Optimus just seemed to be running interference for whatever was truly going on in the make-shift shelter.

They watched Will pace back and forth nervously. They also noticed that that man they didn't recognize was writing in a notebook. Mikaela had a strong compulsion to go tell him to stop it.

Will stopped pacing when Ironhide stood up out of the tent. They all watched him walk around to the side of it and then he hunched over as a strange liquid burst from his mouth.

"Did Ironhide just get sick?" Mikalea asked.

"I've never seen any of them do that before," Sam said.

Will tried to approach Ironhide, but all it took was one look and he backed off. Will knew Chromia was having complications. Ratchet told him as much when he went to the Ark with Ironhide and Chromia several months before.

Optimus walked up to Ironhide and laid a hand on his shoulder. All Ironhide did was raise his own hand to ward Optimus away.

"All right," Will said as he reapproached the gathering crowd. "Give them some room, people."

Sam and Mikaela exchanged a glance.

"Let's go find Bumblebee," Sam murmured.

888

Optimus got down on one knee and leaned through the entrance of the temporary structure. Ratchet was shoring up Chromia's chest plating and readying her for transport.

"Ratchet?" Optimus said.

"We have to get back to the Ark immediately," Ratchet said. He had nothing to operate with here. Everything he would need was back in the med bay, though even that seemed hopeless.

Optimus got the impression that Ratchet was avoiding telling him what it was. Optimus already knew Chromia's physical problems, but judging by Ironhide's behavior outside of the tent, he knew there was something else further complicating the issues, making it worse for both her and him.

Ratchet shunted air from his vents. "She sparked."

Happy surprise crossed the Primes features. That wasn't at all what he expected to hear. That should have been good news for them all. A smile started to form on his face.

**"It doesn't look good, Optimus," **Ratchet said through their link, dissuading Prime's hope, his concern so palpable that Optimus thought he could feel it.

A moment later, Ironhide showed up next to Optimus. He looked as if he had composed himself a little, a certain determination that always defined him motivating him.

"We can use one of those things the humans call a 'flatbed trailer' to transport her," he said. "Come on. We don't have any time to waste."

Both Ironhide and Ratchet already knew she couldn't transform. She was too big for any of them to transport her themselves and an enclosed tractor trailer wouldn't work either.

There were two obvious problems with the plan, though...

"Can you fit on there with her?" Ratchet asked Ironhide. He wanted their sparks to remain as close as possible. He wasn't as concerned about the second problem of concealment in such a life and death emergency, but he asked it anyway, "Do we have something to cover you on such an open contraption?"

"I intend to," Ironhide answered the first question, gathering Chromia in his arms. She placed a hand over his spark, knowing she was close to feeling their sparkling but still unable to.

"The humans may have something that they can be covered with," Optimus answered the second question.

Ironhide paused, staring Optimus right in the optics, "If you tell any of them about the sparkling, we are going to her ship and leaving this solar system." He didn't add that they'd be doing that only if they survived this.

Optimus was a little taken aback. "That will not be necessary. Trust me, Ironhide."

"I've always trusted you, Prime. But you owe us after all this slag about studying us," Ironhide responded.

Optimus nodded his head. He would probably never hear the end of that decision.

888

Optimus went up to Colonel Lagier and kneeled in front of him to try and get on his level. "We need your help," he said. "An emergency has come up and we need to get back to our ship immediately. We need a way to transport two of us. We require the use of one of your flatbed tractor trailers to do that. I can haul it myself. However, do you have any suggestions on how to conceal the occupants?"

Colonel Lagier simply looked at him in incredulity. "You're kidding me, right?" He looked at the other aliens and their obvious readiness to leave. "You're all going?"

There was only four of them. The emergency involved two of them. The medic would obviously be going and the leader would be hauling, so he'd be gone too. Colonel Lagier wasn't sure where the smaller, fifth, one went.

"That is not acceptable," the colonel continued. "You have to uphold your end of the bargain and unload the rest of the supplies. At least one of you will need to remain here to do that."

"If you want a cooperative effort between our kinds, you will grant us this leave," Optimus said. "We will return when the emergency has been resolved." They were going no matter what, but he still wanted to try to uphold peace between his kind and theirs. Though, this was getting ridiculous.

**"We don't have time for this, Prime," **Ironhide's voice practically boomed through their link.

"Oh, come on!" Will suddenly exploded at the Colonel. "Quit being such an asshole! They've unloaded about 95% of what we have here. We can't do anything else until the budget goes through. They have an emergency! What's wrong with you?"

Colonel Lagier looked around at the other gathered humans. He had gotten most of them to go back to work, but a few, like the college kids that decided that now was a good time to show up, were standing around a bit aimlessly. As much as the major's outburst pissed him off, there was a part of him that knew Will was right. He pulled Will aside in as much as it was possible to do so.

"I'm under a lot of pressure here," he said to Will in hushed tones. "They are uncontrollable and that is a big concern with the higher ups."

"So, you're trying to control them even when it's pointless?" Will responded just as quietly. "They are alive, Colonel. They have fought a war that is older than our own species. They cannot be controlled. Why is that a bad thing anyway? The fact that they are even trying to cooperate during an obvious emergency should say enough about them that it doesn't matter if they are controllable or not."

Dave suddenly appeared beside them, his excitement obvious. "This would be a fantastic addition to the study. What with and how do these beings handle an emergency? I want to go with them."

Will snorted, a humorless laugh escaping him, "Yea, good luck convincing them to let you."

Optimus suddenly spoke up again. "You have a mate, do you not?"

"I do," the colonel answered.

"If she were ailing, would you not go to her immediately and postpone all of your work until she were well?" Optimus continued.

"I would," Lagier conceded. Then he added, "But all work and agreements wouldn't stop. I would have to find a replacement."

Optimus nodded his head. "If we had any replacements, we'd provide them."

He didn't say anything about Bumblebee, preferring to let the young mech have the space he needed right now rather than offering him as a replacement.

"We will return," Optimus continued. "You have my word as Prime."

Colonel Lagier nodded his head, relenting, "Okay." He looked to Will, "Go find something to cover the ones that are going on the flatbed." He looked back to Optimus, "We will provide a military escort to get you back as fast as possible."

Optimus nodded his thanks to that, "That would be most appreciated."

"Our Anthropologist will also go with you in order to bring us further understanding of the ways of your kind," Lagier continued.

"No way in Pit," Ironhide let his position be known on that idea.

Lagier glared at him, but Optimus spoke up before anything more could be said.

"I will respect his wishes in this matter." Optimus would never do anything to put his kind in danger. Even if Ironhide had not asked him, he wouldn't speak of the sparkling to the humans. There were so few of them and so many unknowns with the remaining Decepticons that he'd do whatever he needed in his power to keep that sparkling safely hidden. "Your escort is appreciated, but we require no assistance beyond that."

888

It didn't take Will long to find something to cover Ironhide and Chromia on the flatbed trailer. He found a large tarpaulin that was used to cover some of the supplies on another flatbed trailer and they used that. It was a tight fit for both of them to be on the trailer even with Ironhide holding her close against his chest so that they were chassis to chassis. But, Ironhide did not want either himself or Chromia to be tied to the flatbed, so they simply tied the tarp down around them and that was sufficient to keep them in place without restricting their movement as entirely as tying down parts of their frames. As soon as that was done, they were on their way.

Despite Ironhide's proximity and the comfort he was trying to send his mate through their sparkbond, Chromia was shaking and squirming against him in excruciating pain. He gritted his dentals against the pain it was causing him as well and tried to remain strong for her. He didn't really know what to do. Ratchet told him, explicitly, not to do the mag pulse therapy.

They met each other's gaze and held it for a long moment. There was an unspoken sentiment that Megatron had killed them after all.

"Oh Primus, Ironhide, I'm so sorry," Chromia managed to say.

Ironhide laid his forehead against hers. "You have nothing to be sorry for. It's not your fault. It never was."

"I was supposed to tell you..." Chromia tensed up and Ironhide hugged her closer until the unmanageable pain subsided to manageable pain again.

"Tell me what?" Ironhide prompted, hoping to get her mind off of it.

"I was supposed to tell you...that Ratchet...wanted to transfer my spark...to a new casing," she got out.

"Well, it looks like he's going to get his chance," Ironhide said to that, having already realized that that would be the logical next step in trying to save her.

Chromia switched to their inner link, in too much pain to try and speak anymore, **"He wanted us to discuss it and be in agreement before trying it, especially since it is so dangerous for me."**

He now understood why she avoided him any time he tried to discuss the weld with her, even to the point that she made a bet with him to wait an orn. He didn't blame her that waiting an orn ended up being too long, though. She didn't know that she was incubating a sparkling that was about to accelerate her problems tenfold. If she had known the sparkling was there, she definitely would have told him the plan and they would have gone to Ratchet straight away.

Ironhide didn't say anything more. He didn't want to think of what was to come. He just wanted to hold his sparkmate close.

Chromia kept pressing her chest against his so that their sparks were perfectly aligned. He knew what she was trying to do. He suddenly realized that it wasn't his place to keep her from feeling their sparkling. If the unthinkable happened, he would die regretting that he had the capability to allow her to know their sparkling and didn't let her. The thought alone was too much to bear and Ironhide opened his spark fully to Chromia's, practically throwing the sparkling's presence into their bond.

Chromia was unable to stop shaking, but she froze against him in as much as she was able, as if any movement would break the connection forever. Her pain did not subside, but she forgot about it immediately as she embraced their sparkling's presence. She smiled as elation overwhelmed her. It didn't matter what happened next. All that mattered was this moment. She embraced Ironhide, drawing him ever closer and he allowed himself to smile too.

"She's wonderful, Hide," she murmured in awe. The sparkling felt a little weak, but she was the most wonderful thing in the universe as far as Chromia was concerned.

Ironhide's smile grew bigger, "Yes, she is." He rubbed his cheek plating against hers affectionately.

They lay in silence for awhile, just reveling in their bond and the new presence within it. Then, reality came back to Chromia.

"I'm so scared, Ironhide," she said.

"I know," he said. "Me too. But you're strong, Mia. You both are."

Ironhide felt slight irritation from her side of the bond, but she didn't discourage him. Neither the sparkling or herself was very strong at the moment, but Ironhide needed to believe that so she let him. The alternative was something he didn't want to imagine.

Suddenly, Chromia remembered another spark that was very dear to her. This was neither the time nor the place to bring it up, but she wasn't sure if this was her only chance and she couldn't let it be lost with her.

**"Did Bumblebee come back?"** she asked through their link.

Ironhide wasn't really surprised she brought it up, given her recent shock involving the young bot. He shook his head, "I haven't seen him since he took off."

**"I wish you would have told me your suspicions, but they were right," **Chromia continued.

She wasn't about to berate her mate for not telling her what Ironhide's thoughts were on Bumblebee's origins. He did download his memories to her after all. He just didn't bother to mention that piece of important information that she might find in there. Even if it was a little irritating, this was hardly the time to be angry with him over anything.

Ironhide tensed up and Chromia lost the sparkling as he did so. She searched for it again frantically, grasping at him.

Ironhide was afraid that she meant that his suspicions about Bumblebee being Megatron's was right. Chromia quickly realized her mistake and said to him, **"He belongs to Optimus, not Megatron."**

Ironhide relaxed a little, relief washing through them as Chromia could feel the sparkling again and Ironhide now knew an age-old mystery that had haunted him for vorns.

"Are you sure?" he asked, needing further confirmation even though he believed what she said.

**"Optimus told me himself,"** she answered. **"I don't think he's ever allowed Bumblebee to imprint on his spark," **Chromia continued, briefly realizing that that was partly how he could keep Elita from knowing.

Chromia could feel Ironhide's turmoil, his feelings of possessiveness over the youngling conflicting with those of what was right for Bumblebee. His first sparkling was taken away from him. He'd be damned if another one would be, even though the situation was completely different and Ironhide was being irrational about it. Bumblebee had to know and Optimus had to acknowledge him. It wasn't right to keep it from either of them.

**"Whatever happens here," **Chromia said. **"Please make sure Optimus fully recognizes him as his sparkling."**

888888888888888

Ratchet needed guidance. Any time when a mech sought some sort of direction, he went to Prime, which was where Ratchet was headed.

Everything that happened since they arrived back to the Ark was a whirlwind of emotion, doubt, hope, fear, and all were looking to him to make it right. He ordered Optimus out of the med bay immediately upon starting the operation to stabilize Chromia's current casing. He needed time to finish the new one and it was unfortunate he was the only medic around. He hadn't even been sure if he even _could_stabilize her and he was nervous as Pit. He had Ironhide remain close the entire time, but the mech kept purging his tanks until there was nothing left to purge.

All he could think about, over and over, were Chromia's last words before he put her in stasis, _"Do what you have to do Ratchet. Just please, please don't let her extinguish."_

He couldn't even look at Ironhide when he left the med bay. He just told him she was fine for now and he needed to refuel after such a grueling operation, adding that he was getting energon for Ironhide too.

Ratchet found Optimus in his command center, looking over a solar system that floated in front of him from the holo-projector, most likely trying to keep himself occupied in the midst of the emergency raging around what few of them were left.

Optimus was surprised to see that it was Ratchet that entered, but was relieved because if Ratchet were there instead of the med bay, then that meant that he probably succeeded in getting Chromia stabilized.

"Prime, I need your counsel," Ratchet said without preamble.

Optimus nodded at him, "You may have it, of course."

"Chromia is stabilized for now," Ratchet continued. "She is in stasis. But, the sparkling has to be removed as soon as possible. It cannot develop properly in its current configuration and Chromia's casing cannot sustain it. In order to have a chance at saving Chromia, I need to transfer her spark to a new casing. I suggested it to her an orn ago, but there are risks involved because I don't know if she still has shrapnel in her spark. The problem now is that I cannot transfer her spark with a sparkling attached. I will have to separate them, but both of them will go into distress when I do.

Ratchet paused, cycling air through his vents before continuing, "The risk of there being shrapnel hasn't lessened at all and her spark going into distress with the sparkling makes the transfer even more difficult."

Ratchet paused again and Optimus said, "Go on."

"The newspark is a femme," Ratchet said, knowing the impact that would have, further compounding the complication of the situation. Femme sparks were rare even at the height of Cybertron's civilization. To have one now was nothing short of a miracle.

Optimus sat down, "Primus."

"The sparkling is very weak, too weak to withstand separation," Ratchet continued. "If I try to separate them now, the sparkling could extinguish, but if I wait too much longer to transfer Chromia's spark, then we'll lose her." He didn't have to say that losing Chromia also meant losing Ironhide.

Optimus leaned back in thought, wishing he had someone to go for guidance when such difficult dilemmas were presented to him.

Ratchet paced nervously for a few moments before finally giving the thought that would haunt him forever. "Optimus, we may have to consider that I cannot save them both. If I try to save both, we could lose all of them."

Optimus's spark jumped at that, uncertainty overtaking him. They could not afford to lose anybody and as precarious as that was, it was nothing compared to the thought of losing the company of their age-old friendships.

"Can you buy them more time?" Optimus asked, in the hopes that Ratchet could pull one of his medical magic tricks and give them all more time to come up with some options.

"I have done all I could. I need half an orn to finish the new casing and we have to know by then," Ratchet answered.

Optimus nodded slowly. So, they were out of time and something had to be done now. Optimus didn't feel right making such an important decision that decided the fate of a family unit that had a long history of distress, even if a femme sparkling was involved. He looked at Ratchet, his decision set.

"I believe it would be right to let Ironhide chose," Optimus said. Perhaps it was cruel to have the mech choose the fate of his own family unit, but it was even more cruel for someone else to decide that fate. There was no easy way around this no matter how he looked at it.

"Choose what?" Ironhide suddenly said from the doorway.

Ratchet was visibly startled, even horrified. He wanted to at least give it some thought before presenting the possibilities to Ironhide. What Ironhide was even doing there at that moment was beyond him.

Ironhide looked from Ratchet to Optimus, the looks on their faces telling him all he needed to know.

"Don't ask me to choose," Ironhide said softly, the horror of the realization of what they were going to ask him freezing his spark. He looked at Ratchet, an icy anger creeping through his systems, his voice rising as he continued, "There is no choice. I cannot live without her and I don't mean because we're bonded; that's obvious. I cannot live without her even for a moment! I cannot do what Nightfire did. And neither one of us could handle losing another sparkling. We cannot go through that again. There is only one choice, Ratchet: save them both."

Ironhide stormed from the room, not waiting for any response from either of them. They heard his cannons go off somewhere down the corridor, but Optimus couldn't bring himself to stop him.

"Primus," Ratchet said. This was the most difficult operation he ever had to deal with in his long vorns as the Autobot medic. He had had to make some difficult choices over the course of the long war, but where they were now, who this involved, and what it mean to the Cybertronian race was more than even he could handle, but he had to try.

"You have to have some other thoughts on what can be done," Optimus prompted him, his thoughts obviously on the same lines as Ratchet's.

"I know what has to be done and what can't be done and why," Ratchet said next, swiping his hand across his brow plating, the unease in his tanks making him feel more like purging than ever before.

Optimus placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He knew it wouldn't do much to ease Ratchet's fears, but he fully supported his medical specialist. Ratchet was the best medic Optimus had ever seen. If anyone could make this happen, Ratchet could.

"Whatever you have to do, Ratchet, I'll support your decision," Optimus said after a moment.

_"Do what you have to do, Ratchet," _Chromia's voice replayed in Ratchet's CPU like a mantra, Ironhide's voice quickly following. _"There is only one choice, Ratchet: save them both."_

Ratchet hunched over and finally purge his tanks. Optimus knelt by his side, letting him get it out in the hopes that he'd feel a little better afterwards. He kept his hand on Ratchet's shoulder, silently supporting him. Ratchet patted the hand in thanks and then stood up, steadying himself on the solar system holo-emitter.

"Her spark cannot remain in that casing and the newspark cannot remain attached to hers during the transfer," Ratchet said after a moment, his CPU racing through all the variables. "The best way to counteract the distress from the premature separation during this procedure is through terminal lock. That might even help me locate and remove any shrapnel before it could cause harm. But there's no guarantee that Ironhide can bring her out of that." Ratchet didn't have to say how much he knew Ironhide was going to dislike that idea. Ironhide was also very low on energon, but he could get himself refueled by the time Ratchet was ready with the new casing. "If the sparkling were to survive the separation, she will be in great distress which could kill her anyway."

Ratchet looked at Optimus and threw his hands up in defeat. "That's not going to work, because I don't have any way to incubate the sparkling until I can construct a suitable frame. _If _Chromia survives, I can put the newspark back with her spark in the new casing. I don't have anywhere to put the sparkling in the interim."

"How would you normally incubate a sparking when it has to be prematurely separated?" Optimus asked, feeling like he was on the verge of an idea.

"Well, when you don't have the right equipment, which we don't, it can be done by another femme who has had a sparkling. Her spark and casing have incubated before, so she is compatible to do it. It isn't something that was normally done, because a slight bond can form between the sparkling and the new incubator, but I know of a couple cases where it worked. But it's pointless even talking about it, because we don't have any other femmes lined up, much less one who has already had a sparkling," Ratchet explained.

Optimus was in a slight daze as Ratchet continued. He knew what he had to do. He had the answer.

"I would say that we could try putting the sparkling within Ironhide's casing," Ratchet went on, oblivious to Optimus's sudden realization. "But it doesn't work well with a mech, and having Ironhide's spark in distress while both his sparkmate and sparkling are in that state wouldn't be very helpful. Besides, I would need him to bring her out of terminal lock..."

"I can do it," Optimus interrupted.

Ratchet stopped and just stared at him in puzzlement. "That wouldn't work, Optimus. You're not a femme who's ever had a sparkling and even if it would work for a mech, I wouldn't try it with a mech who isn't related."

Optimus held Ratchet's gaze, a strange brightness passing over his optics. "What about a mech who has had a sparkling?"

Ratchet's expression became quizzical and he actually tilted his head to the side. He wondered if Optimus heard what he said.

"A mech can't do it, only a femme whose spark has split," Ratchet tried clarifying for him.

"What about a mech whose spark has split?" Optimus asked next, his chassis splitting down the middle as he started to open it.

"That's impossible," Ratchet looked at him like he was crazy. "What are you doing? I've seen your spark."

Optimus merely pointed at a tiny scar on his spark where Bumblebee's spark had split from it eons before.

"It's small, but it's there," Optimus said.

Ratchet moved closer, examining the scar on Optimus's spark that he thought was a result of what had happened to Elita One. It was so impossible for a mech's spark to split, that it never even crossed his mind that it was from a sparkling. Ratchet's mouth hung open clear to his chest. He could not believe what Optimus was telling him, yet there was the proof, staring him in the face.

"Oh...my...Primus..." Ratchet blew through his vents.

Only a femme's spark could split. That was what made them 'femmes.' That was a part of their function. Ratchet did not have time to figure out how Optimus did it, but several things came together for him right then and there.

"Bumblebee is yours," he practically whispered.

No wonder Chromia kept asking about him. The young mech was probably suffering from sparkshock because of the death of Megatron and she knew it. She just wasn't quite sure who his sparkshock was from, so she assumed it was Nightfire and, upon learning he had a relationship with Nightfire, she assumed they had found a way to create a sparkling before she died. That was entirely impossible, but Chromia had a tendency to jump to conclusions, though Ratchet could see why in this case, especially with Optimus presenting to him something that should have been entirely impossible.

"We're going to have a long talk after this," Ratchet said and Optimus nodded his head, expecting that that was to be the case with everybody.

888888888888888

Both Ratchet and Optimus rushed into the med bay and Ironhide jumped up from his perch next to Chromia.

"Okay, Hide, this is what we're going to do," Ratchet began. He explained to Ironhide that they were going to transfer Chromia's spark to the new casing as soon as it was done in less than an orn. He then explained that Optimus would be incubating his sparkling until Chromia was stable again. He was interrupted before he could tell Ironhide the bad news.

"I don't like that plan," Ironhide said, glaring at Optimus.

"What's there not to like?" Ratchet asked. "This is the only plan we have that has a possibility of working."

"This sparkling is mine," Ironhide continued. "What happens when she is housed within his casing?" he pointed at Optimus. "Won't some kind of bond form? He already has a bond with my other sparkling that I cannot feel and now he's going to have this one too?"

Optimus realized what this was about immediately. "Bumblebee is still yours, Ironhide. I'm not going to take that away from you."

"And this sparkling is still yours too," Ratchet added. "You'll still be able to feel her. The bond isn't going to go away because someone else incubates her."

Ironhide stood down, though he was still skeptical. "This is the only way?" he asked.

"This is the only way," Ratchet answered.

Ratchet glanced at Optimus, stealing himself for what he was going to say next. Then he looked back to Ironhide. "This is the easy part."

"What could possibly be more difficult than this?" Ironhide sounded tired, not sure he really wanted to know what Ratchet had to tell him.

"I have to put Chromia in terminal lock," Ratchet said finally.

Ironhide's reaction was just what Ratchet thought it would be.

"You can't be serious!" Ironhide exploded whirling on Ratchet. He watched Ratchet as if waiting for some cosmic joke to befall them all and they could laugh because none of this was real. Ratchet's faceplates never moved. "You _are_ serious."

Ironhide stood there a few moments, looking at Chromia. He developed a slight tremor as fear swept through his frame.

"I can't do it," he said at last. "I can't go through that again...not knowing for sure."

"You want to have a chance at saving them both?" Ratchet said next. "_This _is what we have to do." He pointed his finger for emphasis. He watched Ironhide as the mech tried to control his shaking. "I'll put you in stasis if you want. That might be the easiest way to get you fueled enough to handle the joining to bring her out of it."

Ironhide nodded his head in agreement to that. There would be no way he could remain conscious for everything Ratchet was telling him needed to be done. Ironhide thought he might give himself system failure if he had to be conscious for even a fraction of the procedures.

Ratchet went to work immediately, having Ironhide lay right next to Chromia in order to keep their sparks close at hand. He prepared him for stassis and then Ironhide knew nothing...

888

When Ironhide was brought back to consciousness, the first thing he knew was that he couldn't feel Chromia at all. He panicked, crying out in pain and torment as his spark began to dispair.

"Ironhide!" he heard Ratchet yell his name. "It's okay, Ironhide! It's just the terminal lock. Just stop and think for a moment. Remember what we discussed before."

Ironhide's vents made a heaving noise as he tried to cycle air to cool his alarmed systems. He listened to Ratchet. He knew that voice, and he clung to it like a lifeline.

"She's right here, Hide," Ratchet spoke softly, as soothingly as possible. He even placed her hand within Ironhide's.

Ironhide looked at her hand and then her face. She looked peaceful, as peaceful as he'd ever seen her. He remembered everything from the past orn right up to the moment Ratchet put him in stasis. He also remembered that this was the crucial moment of truth. Her chassis was open for him and he gazed at her new casing. Her spark was dormant, but it was the first time since Floatilla that he'd seen her casing look normal. Everything was done. It was up to him now.

"How's the sparkling?" he asked. He knew he shouldn't waste any time, but he had to know just in case.

Ratchet smiled at him, placing a steadying hand on Ironhide's shoulder. "She's doing fine. She's going to be just fine." He did not add that she was a little weak and would need some extra care right at first, but she was going to live and, if Optimus had anything to do with it, she was going to have a fulfilling life.

Ironhide smiled back, obvious relief showing on his faceplates. "Thank you, Ratchet," he said.

Ironhide looked over his mate, wanting to share this happy news with her, but not knowing if he'd ever get the chance.

"If this doesn't work," Ironhide said. "Don't wake me up." He didn't want to know. He didn't want to suffer such a horrible loss. He didn't want the last thing he ever knew to be the horrible loss and pain of his sparkmate's death. It was enough for him to know that their sparkling was going to live, which was a precious thing to be the last thing he ever knew.

Ratchet nodded his head, squeezing his shoulder to assure him that his wish would be granted.

"If this doesn't work," Ratchet said. "Optimus will carry her for you."

Ratchet regretted that Optimus couldn't be there, but he was afraid of what it would do to the sparkling if both of her creators died so soon after her creation. He had Optimus leave to insulate her as best he could if they didn't make it.

Ironhide smiled again. "Tell him I said thank you. And tell him to embrace Bumblebee. That youngling doesn't deserve to be kept in the dark any longer."

Ratchet squeezed his shoulder again and then stood back to let Ironhide do what he had to do.

Ironhide leaned over and caressed Chromia's faceplating, his own chestplating opening as he did so. He brushed his mouthplates over her forehead.

Ratchet tried to give him some space, but he had to be there to monitor and do what he could to keep this from going bad to worse.

"I want you to do something for me," Ironhide murmured. He was still caressing Chromia's face, but Ratchet knew he was talking to him.

"Anything," Ratchet replied.

"I want our sparkling's designation to be 'Nightfire.'"

Pressing his spark against Chromia's, Ironhide did not wait for Ratchet's response.

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	59. Family Ties

(posted Oct. 9, 2010)

Thanks so much to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 58: **F****lameshield, Shizuka Taiyou, Xerios, Quacked Lurker, Marinelife37, Faecat, 1bloodtempest, Borath, Khalthar, jazzgirl84, Sergeant Duck, renegadewriter8, Lady tecuma, TransformersLover95, Wolfsuneta, KyuubiSango, Emosugarcube, Ladyofthedrgns, LadyJet2, ice around the moon, **and **flamingmarsh!**

(Responses to ch. 58 reviews have been moved to my biopage.)

Thanks so much for adding my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: CalamityQueen13, Lady Shadowfire, Tanisa Bumblebrasil, Liana Soul, Kiba-The-Life-Guardian**

**Visitor Country Reader Traffic, Sept. 2010: **United States, Canada, Poland, China, Norway, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, Portugal, Australia, India, Taiwan, Brazil, Slovakia, Ireland, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Mexico, France, Russian Federation, Israel, Italy, Peru, Philippines, New Zealand, Japan, Hungary, and Chile!

**NOTE: **The name 'Nightfire' belongs to **lady tecuma** from her story **"Sparks and Plasma." **Ironhide and Chromia having a sparkling with that name is from that story. I gave them a reason _why _they named their sparkling that by creating the Decepticon femme character with that same name *wink* Her sparkling's characterization and mine might be done differently, but she's the inspiration behind Hide and Mia having a femme sparkling called 'Nightfire.' I have been leading up to this moment for three years and I thank Tecuma for that. You should all go read her story. It is one of the classics from 2007. It is so awesome! (You can find it in my faves list on my biopage).

There is a flashback in this chapter. _Italics_ are flashbacks.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 59

Family Ties

by Litahatchee

"Still not answering your calls?"

Sarah Lennox leaned against the door jam as she watched her husband shake his head in answer to her question. She had taken the kids and gone to her parents while everyone was at their house. It was planned that way so the aliens wouldn't frighten the children.

Though Will was certain Annabelle wouldn't have been frightened and Matt was too young to care, Sarah had insisted. Will had called her when the aliens left, so she and their kids returned.

Will was getting worried. Two and a half months had passed and no one had heard anything of the Cybertronians. Bumblebee went to the Ark when Sam and Mikaela told him the others rushed there with an ill-looking Chromia. He didn't even want them to go with him, which was uncharacteristic of Bumblebee. Something was going on with all of them that must have been deep, Will was sure of it.

"No," Will gave voice to his shaking-head gesture. He had been trying to contact Ironhide for weeks. When it was clear Ironhide was never going to answer, he started trying to contact Ratchet and then Optimus; still nothing. "And that Dave guy keeps asking me questions."

Sarah regarded him a moment. Sarah was worried about their alien residents too. Annabelle kept asking for her invisible friends and it broke Sarah's heart each time. However, she didn't know what to say about it, knowing there was nothing they could do in any case. So, she decided to address something they did have control over.

"You know, why don't you answer them? He seems like a nice enough guy." She paused before admonishing, "You're starting to turn into Ironhide."

Will laughed under his breath, "That's because I finally understand where he's coming from."

"Oh, really?" Sarah crossed her arms. "Five years of trying to get this study and you finally get it and are as uncooperative as he is because you 'finally understand' him?"

"Something like that," he said haltingly. "Yes."

"I thought the whole point of this study was so that you could help them, because you know the government won't listen to you since you're not an expert," Sarah said next.

"It was," Will answered. "It is," he amended in frustration.

"Then don't alienate the expert, because he's the key. Look, I know you want to help Ironhide and I know you know things about him that no one else does, but you don't have to tell this man his deepest, darkest secrets. You've been trying to help them all this time. Keep trying; don't give up."

"I'm not giving up on them, Sarah. I just understand them better."

"That's good. Now convince the others to understand them better too."

Will knew she was right. Dave was the only person the higher ups were going to listen to. He could shove it down each of his commander's throats that these beings were sentient, but they wouldn't take his word for it, not a soldier's word. However, if he could convince Dave, then that would be helping the aliens tremendously.

He had a bone to pick with Dave, though. He hadn't told Sarah what Dave first said about Ironhide, about him being hot-headed and loaded with weaponry, an apparent bomb about to go off that could hurt their family. She wouldn't like that very much. She knew, just as well as Will did, how gentle Ironhide could be. Though, thinking about it, he knew she'd still tell him not to alienate the Anthropologist.

Will sighed to himself, making up his mind what he needed to do next. He had been willing to give the guy a chance for a brief moment before, so maybe if he got it all out in the open, he would be willing to give the man a chance again.

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Will walked into Dave's new office in the underground installation the very next day. Dave looked up from something he was typing on his computer from his notebook, but Will started talking before he had a chance to say anything.

"Alright, let's just get this out in the open," Will stated somewhat sternly. "What are you really doing here? I wanted a cultural study, not someone who is judging them based on their weaponry and how 'dangerous they apparently are' because one or more of them may have a temper. There's more to them than that, and that's why I wanted someone like you here. But, pointing out that Ironhide may have hurt my family in front of the colonel is _not_ good."

"It's no secret that he's hot-headed," Dave said. "Pointing that out isn't something that would change the colonel's opinion of him. The colonel doesn't like him already."

"Well, I don't like you, but let's put aside our likes and dislikes and look at all this objectively. What is your focus, here? What is this information being used for, exactly? Shouldn't we be proving their sentience rather than proving how dangerous they could be? It's not about the colonel, or me, or you. This is about humanity as a whole and how we can better understand these aliens and they can better understand us. The truth of the matter is this: Ironhide is going to be around far longer than any of us can even dream." Will paused with that thought. He wasn't entirely sure how Ironhide was doing at the moment. He hoped the Cybertronian was okay.

Dave sat back in his chair, his elbows resting on the armrests as he steepled his hands in front of his face. He actually smiled.

"Have a seat, Major Lennox," he requested, being genuinely polite, his tone jovial.

Will regarded him a moment, not sure if he was surprised he hadn't angered the man or not. He then grabbed a seat from the corner of the room and sat down on it in front of Dave's desk.

"I welcome open conversation," Dave commented casually. "And since we're talking openly...You know there are two thoughts with the government officials that know of the alien existance here. You have one side that thinks they are alien war machines, simply built by someone else. And you have the other side that thinks they may be sentient. This study will determine that. But, when I was hired, I was told that they were merely machines."

Dave went on, telling Will everything he thought before actually meeting the aliens themselves. He told him about how there were more people that believed they were machines than there were that believed they were something more.

"But, you can't just go in and take full control of something in this country anymore," Dave continued. "Those few people would make a huge mess of that and they would blow this whole thing out of the water rather than let that happen."

Will just sat wide-eyed in shock as Dave continued to talk about placating these people and, to a further, but lesser extent, placating William Lennox, who was a huge advocate in gaining the study. Dave went on to say that they gave him everything they had on the aliens and that he was truly convinced that they were just machines. They wanted Dave to conclude that they were, so that the machines could be apprehended and dissected without a conscience in the world.

"When we were meeting with all of them that day, that was my first time seeing them and I honestly still thought they were just machines. I was trying to puzzle out how a mere machine could be hot-headed, or even have emotions that could cause it to be. What I said was not meant to be a judgement, but an observation. If it came across as judgement, then I appologize."

The man stopped talking and all Will could do was stare at him. His mouth was dry and he felt like he might be sick. His head was swimming with everything that was just revealed to him, yet there was that curiosity that rose about it all. Why was Dave telling him this?

"What do you believe now?" Will managed to ask.

"As machines, they were marvelous and fascinating," Dave responded, getting up to pour Will a glass of water. The man was obviously reeling. "Now," Dave laughed as he handed Will the water, a strangely giddy laugh that made him appear boy-like, "they are beyond imagination."

Will took the water, taking a sip before saying cautiously, "So, you believe they are sentient?"

"I haven't come to that conclusion, but I think they are somewhere in between. Perhaps they are machines that have gained some amount of sentience through the amount of time they have...existed," Dave said. Will noticed that he didn't use the word 'lived.'

Dave appeared to be in thought for a moment and Will just sat there, too dumbfounded to know what to say about any of this.

"They can obviously learn," Dave continued. "So, maybe their perceived sentience is learned behaviours. There is a whole line of scientists eager to get started reverse engineering every part of them that they can. But, even those people are divided. Half of them don't want to do it if these aliens really are alive; the other half doesn't care."

Will started in alarm, nearly dropping his glass of water on the floor. "So, even if you could prove they are alive, it won't matter."

"That depends," Dave said casually.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Will nearly growled, his anger obvious.

Dave seemed unaffected by his ire, answering, "Because I want to know what you know. And because you genuinely care for them. I've seen the way you act around them. The only other humans that I can gather that care as much as you are the college kids the yellow one hangs out with. Every human that stays in close contact with them seems to have a bond with them."

Will shook his head in annoyance, "Well, shouldn't that be obvious?" He did care about them deeply, but he never let on how deep his feelings went. It seemed this Anthro guy was good at his job.

"Maybe," Dave answered. "But if they were mere machines, surely you wouldn't care about them as much? If it was just some inanimate truck sitting in your yard, there wouldn't be such an affect on your family either. I've seen the pictures your daughter draws of him."

Will was surprised, but not too much so. Annabelle had pictures of Ironhide drawn all over the house. They were everywhere. He couldn't be too upset at someone who noticed them on obvious places, like the refrigerator, and in some cases on the walls.

Will couldn't help but smile, "Yea, they have a thing."

"Has she seen him in his robot form? I noticed a few pictures of him as a robot," Dave said next.

Unfortunately, Will knew the ones he was referring to. He snorted, "He isn't supposed to transform in front of her. We've never seen him do it, but he isn't one to follow rules either."

"See? That is fascinating. It may not be enough to simply prove these machines are alive. If they are alive, we have to make the doubter care, like you and your family does. If they aren't alive, in the very least, we can make them empathize," Dave concluded.

"They aren't machines at all," Will said irritably, tired of hearing them being called that.

Dave grabbed his notebook and pen, "What makes you say that?"

That was the crux of it all. Will knew in his soul that they were alive. He just didn't know how to tell someone who didn't already know it. To him, it was just obvious once you got to know one of the aliens, which was why he wanted this study. Someone trained in this type of study, never mind that these were beings not of this world, would know how to convey it to the right people.

Will realized that Dave was willing to help. He had obviously seen enough to be a believer himself, even if it was somewhat skewed. However, Will also knew he was treading on soft ground. He had enough information to prove they were sentient, even if he didn't know how he could prove it, but that could raise a whole new group of people who would want to dissect them to find out how they were. He was beginning to wonder if it was best if the aliens just left.

"I don't really know," Will said after some moments. "They love. They hate. They have families. They have friends. They have enemies..."

"Ah, so they _do_ have families," Dave stopped him right there.

That was what Dave was looking for. They recently found out that the aliens had mates. Dave didn't know if they were using the term 'mate' as in two being able to reproduce or if it was just a life-long companionship type of arrangement, or both. They did not know if the aliens had families or not. Having a mate would imply such, but, again, it could have just been for companionship. So far, no one mentioned children. He was told that Optimus avoided the subject when talking about the femmes of their kind being destroyed. However, Optimus had said to Dave that they 'don't have children like humans do.'

Dave thought about that statement a moment. Maybe Optimus was implying that they did, indeed, produce offspring in some way. If all of this was true about them, then that would be all the proof he needed right there.

"Well," Will hesitated, unsure how far he should go with this, unsure of how much he should tell.

Ironhide wouldn't be comfortable with the humans knowing of his lost child and it wouldn't be good for any of them if the humans knew Megatron was Optimus's brother. Will opted to take the middle ground, to confirm that these aliens did have families, since that knowledge seemed to be something that would help them, but not to go into any details.

"Yes, they do," he finally answered. "I think the ones that are here...I think they _are_ a family."

888888888888888

The newspark ebbed, flowed, and flared in her resting spot next to his, mirroring his mood as he soothed her. The newspark wasn't feeling entirely comfortable. The need to be where she was before, with her creator, was tangible, but she wasn't in distress. Ratchet seemed to think that would be normal and was fine with it as long as she wasn't in a panic.

Optimus surrounded the newspark with his spark, shielding her from everything happening in the outside world. Primus willing, this was only going to be a temporary arrangement, but Optimus found he was going to have a hard time giving her up. It was so much like incubating Bumblebee that he couldn't prevent the desire for another one from sweeping through his spark. However, he would not do it again without Elita.

"Wanna help me find it?" he spoke to the newspark, cooing at her if she was already in her first frame and sitting next to him in play. "It's got to be around here somewhere," he continued in the same jovial parent to child tone as he poured over the next star system, searching.

The presence of the sparkling so close to his spark was doing wonders for the pain of his missing mate, but he was no less in need of finding out her fate. As sad as her absence made him, he hadn't felt this happy since Bumblebee came online in his first frame.

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_Optimus watched her from his spot in the doorway. She hadn't noticed him yet. The newspark had just been removed from his casing a little less than an orn before. He was supposed to be resting. _

_He watched as his mech sparkling reached for her. It was all he could do not to reach for the sparkling himself. He was so new and small. He didn't even have a designation yet. _

_The femme hesitated as the sparkling kept watching her. Giving in, she reached down and gathered him into her arms. She held him up in the air and he chittered at her. _

_"Well, hello there, my little bumblebee," she smiled at him._

_"Bumblebee," Optimus spoke up, letting her know he was standing there. "I like that."_

_Nightfire whirled around to face him, hugging the sparkling close to her chassis. "What are you doing up? Get back to your berth before you damage yourself. All of this would have been for nothing if something happens to you."_

888

Optimus was pulled from his reverie when he heard someone enter the room. He looked towards the door and saw Bumblebee standing there.

"Ratchet turned me away," Bumblebee said simply.

Optimus nodded his head in understanding. Bumblebee was obviously concerned about Ironhide and Chromia and tried to see them. Bumblebee didn't ask him about them, though, and Optimus didn't know what to tell him if he did.

There was an unspoken understanding between his Autobots in the long war. If a friend was critically wounded, no one would ask about them or speculate. After so much death and uncertaintly, it could drive a mech insane. So, they waited for news from the medic. The fact that Ratchet wasn't giving any news was better than bad news.

Bumblebee didn't really know what else to say or do. He felt something different about Optimus's spark, so he explored that for a few moments. He waited for Optimus to cut him off, but he didn't. Instead, Optimus smiled.

Bumblebee had no idea what he was feeling in Optimus's spark. He had the strong sense that it felt like another and that this 'other' felt similar to Chromia. However, at the moment, he was more delighted that Optimus wasn't hiding it, that Optimus wasn't closing him off from his side of the bond at all.

"Come sit with me," Optimus said to him.

Optimus watched as Bumblebee's expression went from surprise to confusion and then back to surprise again. He then happily did as Optimus suggested, sitting next to him with their sparks honestly open to each other for the first time in vorns.

He looked around the various holograms and charts Optimus had been pouring over. Many of them had the last known locations of space bridges.

"You're looking for that planet where Chromia was lost, aren't you?" Bumblebee asked, further implying that he was looking for the location where Chromia was seperated from Elita One.

Optimus clicked on a chart, thumbed through a few planets as they floated in front of them and then clicked off of it again.

"Yes," he said.

"Have you found anything?" Bumblebee asked next, a desire to know his possible femme creator, as much as the hope that Optimus would finally find his sparkmate, driving the question.

Optimus shook his head sadly, "No."

They sat in companionable silence for awhile, letting the uncertainties of Elita's whereabouts run their course. Bumblebee gave as much comfort as he could to Optimus through their bond. It was obvious Prime was hurting, but he welcomed any distraction. Bumblebee didn't have any reservations about providing one.

"Why won't you explain this connection to me?" Bumblebee finally asked the question Optimus had been anticipating for Bumblebee's entire life.

"It's complicated," Optimus said, still uncertain, even after all this time of thinking about it, of how he would tell the young bot.

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" Bumblebee asked next, his frustration flowing from his side of the bond.

Optimus reached over and put a hand on Bumblebee's chest over his spark. "Because our sparks are very deep, very complicated places. They have the power to connect us to each other in ways we may not fully understand ourselves."

"But this connection," Bumblebee gestured between himself and Optimus. "It's stronger than you let on."

Here he was, at the moment Bumblebee had been waiting for his entire life, and Optimus didn't even know how to say it. He was apprehensive and unsure. What was Bumblebee going to think? Was he going to be as angry as Chromia was about it? Optimus deserved that reaction, he knew, but he believed in his decision. If it were to all happen again, he'd do it the same way. He opted to just tell the youngling straight out. He couldn't spend the rest of his life without ever telling the young mech.

Optimus kept his hand over Bumblebee's spark, thinking back all those vorns ago when it resided in his casing. He thought about how he then carried the bot for far longer than the usual time in order to keep suspicions from arising as much as it was that Optimus didn't want to let the sparkling go. He reached out to Bumblebee, seeking assurance as much as he was giving it. He smiled when he felt the newspark join in on the assuring feelings, to which Bumblebee just looked puzzled.

"This is the strongest connection we can have," Optimus said of the bond he had with his youngling, putting aside the newspark's presence that Bumblebee could obviously feel. "I'm you're creator, Bumblebee."

Bumblebee's spark latched onto his an astrosecond before the young mech embraced him and he had no intentions of letting Optimus retreat from his spark again. Optimus never intended to himself. He was going to keep their bond open and never let his youngling live in such doubt again.

Optimus could feel Bumblebee's immense relief. Bumblebee wasn't angry at all. He wasn't even remotely angry. It was as if the mech had been afraid of something and now finally had a confirmation that he desperately needed. Optimus realized immediately that it had to do with Megatron. He mentally berated himself for not realizing this fear sooner. He had never felt any malice from Bumblebee towards Megatron, but the recent relationship with Chromia would understandably cause doubt of what that particular spark bond could mean, especially if Bumblebee learned what happened to Ironhide and Chromia's first sparkling.

Optimus hugged the youngling closer, "I am so sorry."

It was all he could say. It was all he could think to say. Vorns upon vorns as Prime of his kind and he didn't even know how to handle this situation. Bumblebee started to shake as the young mech sobbed in his arms, his emotions overwhelming him.

They held onto each other awhile longer and then Bumblebee pulled away a little, though Optimus didn't let him get far as he didn't let go.

"Why haven't you told me this before?" Bumblebee asked next, invariably the first question of many that were going to occur to him.

Optimus was prepared for this question and he rested his forehead against Bumblebee's as he answered it. He didn't go into detail about his and Ironhide's sparkmates, but he knew that that was definitely going to be a question in the future. "These connections can be used against us. They _have_ been used against us in the most abhorrent ways possible. I couldn't put you through any of that. I couldn't risk anyone knowing where you came from and who you were related to. The best way to do that was to keep it a secret, even from you. The most important thing was keeping you safe."

Bumblebee bowed his head a little, breaking their contact. "It doesn't make it right."

There was the anger Optimus expected, though it was half-sparked, at best. It was almost as if Bumblebee thought he should be angry, but he really wasn't.

"No, it doesn't," Optimus said. "Nothing about this war has been right. There isn't a Cybertronian alive who hasn't had to make some sort of enormous sacrifice. I'm really sorry for the uncertainties I've put you through and I'll spend the rest of my life trying to set things straight again."

Bumblebee seemed to accept that and he nodded his head, much the same way Optimus did the gesture. They sat in silence for awhile and Optimus just let it all sink in. Then, Bumblebee seemed perplexed about something.

"Is it wrong that I'm sad that Megatron's dead?" Bumblebee asked uncertainly, his fear of what Ironhide and Chromia were going to think of him, now that they knew he was definitely related to Megatron, making him uncertain. It wasn't as bad as if Megatron were his creator, but he still had a strong bond with the Decepticon leader.

"It's not wrong to miss someone you have a bond with. I'm sad that he's dead too. I still loved him no matter what. It was hard sometimes, I'll admit," Optimus said, thinking particularly about the abduction of Elita. "But, Megatron was not always evil. Nobody feels the same way and this is something we just keep to ourselves, but I hold on to the good memories of him."

Bumblebee smiled, his further relief obvious through their spark bond. "Will you share them with me?"

Bumblebee was still uncertain about Ironhide and Chromia, but he felt better knowing something wasn't wrong with him. He was starting to understand how this spark thing was complicated and why everyone said that.

Optimus still loved Megatron, no matter what, yet he had to keep secrets from his brother to keep everyone safe. Furthermore, because of the atrocities his brother committed, Optimus had to keep his feelings of his brother to himself too. Everyone hated Megatron without a doubt. However, to Optimus, it wasn't his brother he hated, but what his brother was doing. Bumblebee found that he never hated Megatron either. He didn't have anyone he could talk to about that, though, always fearful that his lack of hatred was somehow wrong. Maybe, now, both he and Optimus had someone to talk to.

"I would love to share with you anything you'd like to know about him," Optimus said warmly.

The newspark mirrored the warmth Optimus was feeling, suddenly infusing the feeling throughout the bond without abandon. Ratchet told Optimus that he would probably form a bond with the newspark and the sparkling was catching on quick.

Bumblebee suddenly stared at his chest, his curiosity at Optimus's spark's strange behavior piquing. "What _is_ that?" he exclaimed.

Optimus was definitely going to tell him, he just didn't know the best way of going about it. It seemed like he didn't know the best way to go about anything when it came to family.

"You know that Chromia has been having complications..." Optimus began.

"It's a sparkling, isn't it?" Bumblebee suddenly blurted.

Optimus smiled, "Yes." He then added, "It's Ironhide and Chromia's."

Bumblebee realized why it reminded him of Chromia, because it was Ironhide and Chromia's sparkling.

"What are _you_ doing with it?" Bumblebee's head was spinning. He wasn't quite sure what to think of it at all.

"Well, they had some problems and Ratchet needed to put her somewhere to keep her safe," Optimus said. It was more complicated than that, but he felt that Bumblebee didn't need to be overwhelmed with more reasons about how their sparks were complicated.

"Oh wow, it's a femme?" Bumblebee stared at Optimus's chest intensely, as if the act could allow him to see through it to catch a glimpse of the newspark who seemed to be playing in their bond. He looked back up at Optimus.

"Why can I feel her?" he asked.

"Apparently she has formed a bond with me because I'm incubating her. You're feeling her through your own bond with me," Optimus said, hoping he had that right.

Bumblebee just stared at him. "How many bonds are there?"

Optimus laughed at that. Bonds hadn't exactly been explained to Bumblebee, but this was a new one that he didn't even know about. This was a perfect example of what he said to Bumblebee before; their sparks truly were very deep, very complicated places that could connect them in ways that even they didn't always understand.

Bumblebee explored the new presence, the 'other' that it felt like within his bond with Optimus. It was weird, because there was a bond, but the sparkling knew this wasn't its creator. The newspark knew, without a doubt, who its creators were. It even felt like a combination of both Ironhide and Chromia. Bumblebee could even separate those characteristics out.

It was marveling and puzzling to Bumblebee at the same time. He never had such instincts that let him know, without a doubt, who his creators were. He now knew for sure that he was from Optimus, but he couldn't feel that he was also from Elita, which he should have been since that was Optimus's sparkmate. Yet, he couldn't separate that part of himself out at all.

Of course, he hadn't known Elita existed until Optimus told him about her while they were searching for the AllSpark. But, understanding what he now knew and knowing what this sparkling obviously knew, surely he would automatically remember her through his spark. However, he didn't. He truly didn't know her in any way, not like this sparkling just knew who its creators were; it knew _both_ of them.

"Elita's not my femme creator, is she?" Bumblebee asked, an icy chill creeping down his back as he said it.

Ratchet poked his head in the doorway right at that moment, much to Optimus's immense relief.

"I'm ready for the sparkling now," he said and then disappeared back into the hallway, indicating his readiness to get moving right now.

Ratchet had told Optimus to turn off his comm. systems. When he was ready for him, he'd just get Optimus himself. Whatever news he had, he didn't want to tell Optimus over their comms, for fear that Optimus's reaction could affect the sparkling.

Optimus gave Bumblebee an apologetic look, truly wanting to assure the youngling in every way. However, he got up and followed Ratchet out, hastily, knowing that every astrosecond counted.

Though Bumblebee was as uncertain as ever, he understood all too well. No mech had better keep The Hatchet waiting. He had ways to make mechs pay.

88888

"Does he know what you did?" Ratchet asked about Bumblebee as they headed towards the med bay, giving Optimus no room to inquire about Ironhide and Chromia. Though, if Ratchet was willing to talk about something else other than the emergency, then it had to be a good sign.

Optimus gave him a sidelong glance. Ratchet was smart. He had it figured out as soon as Optimus showed him his spark where Bumblebee had come from. Just like several scientific-minded bots, he knew the theory.

Optimus's carrying hold came as a big surprise to him, however. It had been amazingly hidden all this time. Despite the intense situation, while he was transferring the newspark into Optimus's spark chamber, Ratchet couldn't help but marvel at how well it had been hidden. Someone did a fantastic job in making it look like it was a part of his other systems, the perfect camouflage for any medic who would be working on him in the future. If Optimus had ever been critically injured in his chest area, a medic would have found it for sure, but fate was on Optimus's side, because Ratchet didn't remember having to exact any repairs too closely to the area.

Once Ironhide and Chromia's sparkling got her first frame; Nightfire, Ratchet smiled to himself; Optimus would be able to carry her in his hold. Nightfire wouldn't be able to find nourishment from it, but he could carry her the same way Ironhide carried Bumblebee. Ratchet hadn't minded telling Ironhide that, feeling it would be a comfort to the mech, though he now had other thoughts on the matter.

"No," Optimus answered. "I told him I'm his creator, but I didn't explain how."

Though, once Bumblebee's CPU stopped reeling from finally knowing who his creator was, more questions were going to arise, like that last one he asked...

"This could start a whole new objective for the war," Ratchet continued, clearly worried. "It would be like fighting for the AllSpark all over again."

"I know..."

Optimus didn't have to be told that. It was something he knew and feared when he proposed they test the theory all those vorns ago. More than the reasoning behind keeping it all a secret to keep the ones he loved safe, the nature of Bumblebee's creation needed to remain a secret for the sake of all of Cybertron, even though it could possibly help save them.

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	60. The Flame of Hope

(posted October 29, 2010) Happy Halloween weekend!

Thanks so much to the **REVIEWERS** of chapter 59: **Quacked Lurker, Emosugarcube, Shizuka Taiyou, Wolfsuneta, Marinelife37, Sergeant Duck, jazzgirl84, black dragon, Faecat, renegadewriter8, Borath, kris126, flamingmarsh, **and **Flameshield!**

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I apologize for the length of time it took to post this chapter, but **Michael Bay** and company came to Washington DC to film parts of **Transformers 3** and I was able to get right in the middle of it! I have a video on YouTube, as well as lots of behind the scenes photos of all the characters and movie set on my deviantART site, if you want to see. The links are on my biopage.

There is a lot of underlying meaning in this chapter, so I hope I got it all down right.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Chapter 60

The Flame of Hope

by Litahatchee

He was...

...at peace. He knew nothing but peace. It was all around him, encompassing him, embracing him...He was infused with it until nothing mattered. He was at peace with everything that had happened in his life. He was the embodiment of peace.

He couldn't move, but he didn't mind at all. He just let himself drift in this universe of peace.

This must be what the Matrix felt like. He knew his life before, but it didn't compare to eternity. It wasn't that it was insignificant to him anymore, it just no longer mattered as much. All there was now was peace, and he found he was okay with that...more than okay with it.

He was at peace, with everything. For the first time in his life, he held no hatred for what the Decepticons did to them, for what even Megatron did.

If this was the Matrix, then he was going to be happy here. His thoughts wondered to Ratchet. If Ratchet had failed and this was the Matrix, he didn't mind. He did not blame Ratchet. It wasn't a failure that he would place on the medic's shoulders. It just...was.

He must have failed in bringing his sparkmate out of terminal lock too. He idly wondered when she would join him, briefly wondering why it was that he wasn't joining her. That thought manifested into something else...

...bouncy feelings of relief, as if someone young was happy to see him again after a long absence.

Someone young...very young, like a sparkling. He reached out to it. The sparkling appeared brightly in his subconscious, responding to his sudden attention warmly.

_"Sunshadow?"_ he asked the brightness.

The sparkling responded again, that strange sense of relief falling away to something more content as it skittered over his spark playfully.

He embraced Sunshadow, greeting him warmly in return, _"Hello little fella...Been a long time."_

Again he wondered where his sparkmate was. She was the only thing missing in this heaven he'd found. It could never be complete without her there with them...

Suddenly, he felt...

...misery. It startled him. He became confused by its presence. How did such anguish become a part of his peace? It was distant, but it warred within his spark just the same.

There was a sense of loss and longing so immense, so vast, that it shook him to his core. He knew immediately that it wasn't his own feelings over Sunshadow, which was the first thought that came to mind since he was just speaking to his lost sparkling. He was more reminded of his separation from his sparkmate. It didn't feel like it was a part of him or anyone extended from him at all, actually.

Yet, it was there...

It was torment, agony that ran so deep it infused every circuit with pain, coupled with a great weight that felt like the entire universe was bearing down on him. There was no comfort for it..

...only torture.

Oh frag, he was in the Pit. Such suffering could never exist in the Matrix.

However, why was Sunshadow in the Pit with him? That couldn't have been right. There would be no way a being so young and innocent could end up there...taken from the world so tragically...

Sunshadow didn't deserve to be in the Pit. He became angry, his hatred for everything that caused this to happen slamming back into him tenfold. He was going to find Megatron in this hell and kill the bastard again. He wondered that if he was already in the Pit, if there was some place even lower one could go. Were there levels? He wanted to send Megatron to the lowest, most hellish level possible. He hoped there was a dark place for the mech to suffer an eternity in...

Strangely, a new emotion was making itself known. Where were these new feelings coming from? He was just fine in his universe of peace. All this other was confusing to him. The only new feeling outside of his peace that could truly be attributed to his own spark was his hatred for Megatron.

Then, he grasped it, or thought he did. Underlying all that torment, like a single small candle light in a sea of darkness, was hope...

He didn't even notice it at first. It was as if someone was drowning, suffocating, but somehow the single flame remained lit against the torrent of dark winds trying to blow it out...

"Optimus?" he found himself asking.

It was suddenly very important to keep that flame lit. He reached out and shielded it against the darkness, allowing it to glow brighter. The shear amount of surprise he felt in return overwhelmed him a moment, then it was gone...

All of it was gone: the pain, the torment, the light of hope; it just wasn't there anymore. He searched around for it in confusion. Did someone just cut him off from a bond? That's what it felt like...

He felt a warm balm settle over his spark and a very welcome, very familiar affectionate presence drowned out the memory of the distant torment.

_"Ah, there you are,"_ he thought towards the familiar warmth, welcoming it, embracing it.

Then, he felt the sparkling again. He hadn't even realized he had let go...

With all these conflicting emotions from one extreme to another, he began to wonder if he was somewhere between heaven and hell.

"Hide?" Someone spoke to him. He knew that voice. It was the most beautiful voice he ever heard, wonderfully familiar, and belonging to the most beautiful being he had ever laid optics on, a being that was a part of him, the other half of his spark forever. "Come back to me, sweetspark," the voice was confident, assured of its place and presence. "You're on Earth."

Earth? Where in the Pit was that? The strange mixture of peace, torment, and warmth fell away to disorientation. Primus, he was so disoriented, he didn't even know what she was talking about. Then he realized the voice had answered his musings. It must have been reading his mind.

As Ironhide returned to consciousness, he found that he couldn't move, which he supposed explained why he couldn't move in his peaceful state. Parts of his memory started clicking into place. This was what happened last time he had been drained of all of his energy.

He unshuttered his optics and they slowly came into focus. Chromia was right next to him, laying on her side facing him, her face barely a hand-span away. He could feel air brushing over his own face from her vents. He felt the palm of her hand cupping the back of his neck, her thumb coming around to brush over his scar. He just stared at her, his optics irising in and out as he focused on the details of her face plating.

"Welcome back to the living," she said, and smiled before bringing her mouthplates to brush lovingly over his scarred optic.

Ironhide continued to just start at her, watching her intently. He could look at her like this forever. He was mesmerized by her.

He felt her fingers adjusting on the back of his neck and realized, at that point, that she was connected to his CPU. If it had been anyone else, he would have tried to back away. Chromia, however, could have full access to his systems any time she wanted. His spark opened up to a rush of love from his sparkmate and he smiled at her. He realized the 'voice' really had been reading his mind.

Ironhide also realized that Chromia was giving him energy through his CPU port. He was completely drained. He briefly wondered why Ratchet wasn't doing it and came to the conclusion that Ratchet wasn't in the room with them. This was the only way Chromia could get him the energy he obviously needed short of merging with him. His spark raced at that thought and he inwardly smiled, hoping they could do just that soon.

Other things began falling into place for him. The happy bouncy feelings weren't from Sunshadow. It was...

Ironhide looked down at Chromia's chest. They had another sparkling, their brand new femme sparkling. He realized the strange relief he felt before was from the new sparkling. She was with Chromia again. The sparkling was happily relieved to be with them again after her time with Optimus, though that wasn't without a fondness for Prime that Ironhide didn't miss either.

Ironhide's browplating knitted in thought. He obviously missed all the transfers...And what was it about Optimus that was nagging at his spark?

It took at lot of effort, but he managed to bring a shaky hand up and place it on Chromia's chassis over her spark. Chromia placed her hand over his and smiled warmly again.

**"You've been out for awhile,"** she sent him. **"You were running much lower on energy than Ratchet thought."**

Ratchet...

Wait...

If Chromia and their sparkling were with him on Earth, then that meant...

They were alive. They made it. Ratchet didn't fail at all. Ironhide didn't fail either. They were all alive!

Ironhide's arms came around his sparkmate and he weakly hugged her close to him. Chromia's own arms came around him and she then scooted closer until her chest met his. They just lay like that for awhile, reveling in each other's bond and the bond with their new sparkling.

"I love you," Ironhide whispered into her audio and she hugged him tighter, too full of emotion to say anything in return, but not needing to anyway.

Ironhide suddenly felt sad and Chromia pushed slightly away, confused.

"What's wrong?" she asked, searching his optics intently.

"I don't understand why you can't feel her," he said after a moment.

It made him sad to think that Chromia somehow didn't have a bond with their sparkling. After everything she had been through, she didn't deserve that. It didn't make sense.

Chromia actually smiled, which threw him for an astrosecond.

"It's okay," she said softly. "I can feel her now. It's faint, but I felt her when Optimus brought her back. Ratchet thinks it has something to do with our joining. Something didn't connect right, but must have corrected itself when you merged with me to bring me out of terminal lock. He says the bond should get stronger when we join while I'm incubating her."

Ironhide's spark jumped at the thought of that, then he felt relief that she would gain the bond she needed and deserved.

He placed his hand over her spark again in wonderment. Then, he heard the latch click as Chromia began to open her chassis to show him. His optics darted up to hers in concern, but he didn't stop her. She sent him reassurance that it was alright and then exposed her spark to him.

Ironhide's intakes literally stalled when he saw the newspark. She was so bright and beautiful. It reminded him of the first time he saw Sunshadow. She was just like Sunshadow, but there was a difference there. She would have her own characteristics. But, she was still born from the joining of Ironhide and Chromia's sparks. Ironhide realized that everything about this sparkling would always remind him of Sunshadow. He welcomed that, though. It was a good thing.

He reached out to touch the newspark and then paused, looking up at Chromia to make sure it was okay. She nodded her head with a smile and he brushed the sparkling ever so lightly. It brightened at his touch and his spark burst with joy. His optics started to sting as his emotions began to overwhelm him.

How did they do this? They always knew Chromia couldn't produce another, yet here one was...and a femme at that!

Chromia gently grabbed his hand and pulled it up to her mouthplates as she closed her chassis. Ironhide took to watching her again, speechless.

"Where _is_ Ratchet?" he asked after awhile.

"He was pretty exhausted," Chromia answered. "He went to get some energon. He wanted me to call him when you woke up."

Aches and pains were starting to make themselves known throughout Ironhide's body. He groaned softly as a sharp pain shot up his back through his shoulders. If he never heard the term 'terminal lock' again in his life, it would be too soon.

"Well, he has another hit coming," Ironhide said with a malice that he didn't actually feel.

"Lucky for me, then. I don't have to worry about that for awhile longer, not while you're as weak as molten slag," Ratchet suddenly said from the doorway. He then looked thoughtful before adding, "Perhaps I should reformat you into something your sparkling can kick around."

Chromia laughed and Ironhide just looked at her again, which made her laugh harder.

Ratchet gave her a dubious look. She was supposed to contact him when that fragger woke up, but he didn't bother to chastise her for not doing it.

"Feeling better?" she asked Ratchet after she got her good laugh in.

"Yea, no thanks to your ungrateful sparkmate," he said grumpily as he plopped himself down on a stool next to their berth.

He saw that Chromia was giving Ironhide energy and he stopped her immediately. It was counterproductive for her to be doing that, especially since she needed energy herself. He took over the energy transfer a little too roughly and smirked when Ironhide growled at him, feeling smug to be able get Ironhide back for his comment. He knew Ironhide wasn't serious, of course. It was just their way.

Ratchet leaned down and helped Ironhide to a sitting position as he transfered more energy. Chromia sat up with him, letting him lean against her for extra support.

Ratchet's expression softened considerably as he regarded them a moment. Both sets of optics just stared right back at him.

"You two are going to send me to an early grave," Ratchet said. The last five orns were among the most difficult orns he had ever experienced in his entire life.

Ironhide actually chuckled and Ratchet's lip-plating quirked a quick smile before turning serious again.

"Don't ever scare me like that again," Ratchet said, his voice thick with emotion.

Ironhide reached over and placed his hand on Ratchet's, the one that wasn't currently connected to his CPU.

"Thank you," Ironhide said genuinely.

Ratchet simply stared at his hand a moment, then he looked up, shrugging the thanks away. "It's nothing. It's my job."

"No, it's more than that," Ironhide continued and then he repeated his thanks, making sure Ratchet understood just how grateful he was through the connection to his CPU. "Thank you, Ratchet."

Chromia then placed her hand over Ironhide's, bringing her other hand under Ratchet's, so that both their hands were sandwiched in between hers. She gripped them tightly and she could feel them gripping tighter too.

"You are the only family I've got," Ratchet said to both of them, so softly it was nearly a whisper. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"We know," Ironhide and Chromia said at the same time, glancing at each other in mild surprise of being so synced they were thinking the same thing.

Ratchet nodded fondly, then gently tugged his hand back to himself and loudly cleared his vents as he sat up straighter. He had a couple of issues to address with them that was going to be tough, but first thing's first.

"You are all going to be just fine," Ratchet started, wanting to add if they followed his directions to the letter, but deciding to save that for later. "The newspark will need to stay incubated for longer than usual. She didn't have room to grow before, but she does now so leaving her in Chromia's new spark chamber should allow her to grow properly."

"What do you mean, should?" Chromia asked in concern, Ironhide tensing up next to her.

"Don't alarm yourselves," Ratchet soothed. "She's weaker than she should be at this stage, but she's resilient. I do expect her to recover fully. She just needs a little more incubation time."

Both bots seemed to relax and Ratchet gave them a reassuring smile.

"This will also give me more time to put her frame together," Ratchet said next. He had already gotten started in his own excitement when it was clear the sparkling was going to make it, but only just.

Ironhide was honored that it would be Ratchet putting the frame together this time. He was holding a grudge he didn't even remember when it came time to build Sunshadow's frame, so he asked First Aid to do it instead of Ratchet. Chromia hadn't liked that idea, so Ironhide had promised he would ask Ratchet to build the second frame...Ironhide pushed the thoughts aside. It was best not to dwell on what never came to be and why. They had another focus now and he was eager to hold her in his arms.

"You can have my right cannon for her frame," Ironhide offered eagerly.

One of Ironhide's cannons had more than enough metal to build an entire sparkling frame with. The fact that he was willing to give one up at all showed how much devotion he held for his family. Ratchet was curious about what he might have given for his other sparkling. He had always wondered why Ironhide didn't ask him to build that one's frame. It was probably due to some grudge against him, as Ironhide always seemed to have against somebody in one form or another.

Ratchet patted his arm, "That won't be necessary. I have a few spare parts and both Optimus and Bumblebee have already donated. But, you can donate something smaller if you want her to have a part of your frame in hers."

Both Ironhide and Chromia nodded their heads at that. They definitely wanted their sparkling to have a part of their frames in hers. It was traditional for a sparkling's frame to be made of parts from his/her creators' frames, just like the sparkling was made of their sparks. Others donated sometimes, but not always. They liked the idea that their sparkling would have something from all of the Autobots they knew of in existence in this case.

Ratchet then smiled, "I have already imprinted her designation, just as you asked."

Ratchet could not have been happier with the name that Ironhide chose for his sparkling. He was completely floored, but honored by Ironhide's choice, as he knew Nightfire would have been if she were around to witness it.

Chromia paused, her mouth falling slightly open in a joyous gasp. She knew what the designation was immediately. Ironhide and Ratchet did not have to tell her. She knew what it was and it would have been her choice too.

Ironhide grasped her hands. "There's only one name strong enough for any femme sparkling of ours." Ironhide then looked down, his spark feeling heavy for never doing what he should have done while Nightfire was still living. He was just so damn angry at the universe, that he couldn't bring himself to be grateful for anything all those vorns ago. "I wish I could thank her for what she did," he whispered.

A quiet sob suddenly escaped Ratchet and they both looked at him in surprise. Chromia reached out and rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I think you just did," she said.

Ratchet leaned in and wrapped his arms around both of them. They hugged him in return and they all just sat like that for an indeterminate amount of time, reassuring each other, reaffirming a friendship that ran so deep they were family.

Ironhide found himself thinking about that distant flame again, the threat of it being snuffed out bothering him. Yet, he knew it wasn't from him, or Chromia for that matter. Nonetheless, he wondered if he could help keep that flame lit, if he could help keep that hope alive with all the new-found hope and happiness he, Chromia, and to an extension Ratchet, had found.

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	61. Healing and Restoration

(posted November 20, 2010)

Thanks so much to the fantabulous **REVIEWERS** of Ch. 60: **Emosugarcube, jazzgirl84, Shizuka Taiyou, Quacked Lurker, plenoptic, Flameshield, Sergeant Duck, Borath, Wolfsuneta, Khalthar, Faecat, flamingmarsh, Anasazi Darkmoon, **and **LadyJet2!**

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**CREDITS: **The name 'Nightfire' belongs to lady tecuma from her story 'Sparks and Plasma.'

**NOTES: **I was going along pretty well with this chapter, then I kind of hit a brick wall and had to go back through everything I've already written to keep all the pseudo-technical techno-babble stuff in sync. A lot of the events and underlying meanings in previous chapters come together in this one too. I hope I got it all down right. This chapter ended up being a very labor intensive chapter. Prepare for information overload *big grin* Since this story has been going for three years, making it hard to remember some of the details, I've included a short review of the related past chapters after chapter 61 below.

_Italics_ are flashbacks.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Healing and Restoration

Chapter 61

by Litahatchee

Ratchet found himself reluctant to let go of Ironhide and Chromia, but he slowly pulled out of their embrace until there was a small distance between them. He tried his best to shrug off his momentary collapse in favor of getting on with his prescriptions. Ratchet was a deep feeler, but he was very much like Ironhide in that he kept his feelings to himself for the most part, unless those feelings had to do with his temper.

Through it all, he did not stop transfering energy to Ironhide, who was in severe need of a lot of it. That was one of the things he wanted to address, not the least of which was one of the reasons he was ready to tell them what they were going to have to do.

"You are staying in the med bay until the newspark is strong enough to be put in her frame," Ratchet stated matter-of-factly and without preamble.

Surprisingly, Chromia simply nodded her head in agreement. Not surprisingly, Ironhide was a little more vocal.

"Oh, come on, Ratchet. You can't be serious," he said, a smal laugh escaping him.

Ratchet's expression remained deadpan as Ironhide stared at him. Ironhide's smile slowly faded when he realized Ratchet was dead serious and he also realized that Ratchet now knew he was able to hide his energy signatures.

Ironhide had learned how to mask his energy signatures a long time ago. At first, he did it to keep Ratchet off his back about joining with Chromia. If Ratchet scanned him and the scan read that he was running optimally, then he wouldn't be bothered with energy transfers and merges. It had an added bonus of keeping Ratchet off of Chromia's case too. Chromia didn't know how to mask her energy signatures, but if Ratchet thought Ironhide was doing okay, then he usually thought Chromia was fine too, by default.

Later, the masking came in handy during checkups and became a must during the AllSpark search mission. Ironhide hated CPU energy transfers and he prided himself in avoiding them. He knew Ratchet would know he was waning badly with the absence of his sparkmate, but each transfer he could avoid from the medic was a small victory.

"I don't know how you're masking your energy levels, but when I find out, I'm disabling it," Ratchet began, obviously upset.

Ratchet figured out the hard way that Ironhide wasn't running as optimally as his scans showed. Everything had gone better than he expected with the operation and newspark transfers he had to do with Chromia, until Ironhide joined with her to bring her out of terminal lock. Ironhide was so low on energy, that Chromia drained all his reserves completely before Ironhide's self-preservation programs kicked in and tried to take it back. Ratchet had to jump in and give them both nearly all _he_ had before they stabilized enough that he was confident they were going to make it. It nearly gave him a spark attack, but it worked and all three of his beloved patients were fine, but he wasn't about to let them off that easy.

Now Ratchet knew that if Ironhide's energy signatures read at seventy five percent, then the mech's actual energy level was only a little over half that.

"Not only have you nearly slagged yourself, but Chromia is going to need extra energy to incubate. And you both know the best way to equalize your energy levels," Ratchet continued.

Chromia's face fell. She knew what that meant and she hated it so much she practically snarled at the medic. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the company of her mate and feeling whole with him, it was that prescribed joinings weren't on their terms and she hated to be monitored.

"I have prepared a merging schedule that you are going to abide by, and you're going to stay here where I can make sure," Ratchet continued. He then looked directly at Ironhide, "You can't hide from me, pal. I'm onto you."

"How romantic," Chromia nearly growled.

Ratchet just looked at her as she glared at him. Now, there was the protest he was expecting. He knew she hated prescribed joinings, but it was the only way he could be sure. He figured they wouldn't have any trouble joining now that they seemed to be fine with their past, but it was because of their refusal in the past that he felt the need to monitor. He wasn't sure if they would relapse or not and now would be the worst time he could think of for that to happen. There was a lot more at stake with the new sparkling and he was _not_ going to let any of them die on his watch. Whether they liked it or not, he was on watch for them for the rest of their lives.

"You all want to live, you'll do as I say," Ratchet stated, unintentionally threatening, but getting his point across.

He hated to be so stern with his patients, but he knew what he was doing. He always asserted that if his patients would just listen to him and follow his directions, then their lives would be much easier. He never understood why everyone avoided their medics. He was just trying to give them healthier, longer lives.

Ratchet's expression softened and he looked at Chromia, "I know this will work, Chromia, and I know you'll be able to feel Nightfire as fully as a bond allows."

Chromia smiled at that, nodding her head at his reassurance. He had said earlier that he thought she didn't feel the sparkling because of the unusual circumstances in which it came to be. Something obviously didn't connect right, but since she felt the sparkling after Ironhide joined with her, then he was fully confident that she would gain the full bond.

"What about Will?" Ironhide suddenly asked from beside her.

"Will?" A knowing smile crossed Ratchet's face. "You're slagged in the med bay and you're worried about your human?"

Ironhide looked away, embarrassed at his momentary weakness that allowed him to show open concern for his charge. His hands fidgeted a little and Chromia reached over to still them within her own.

"It's okay, Hide," she assured him. She was still very surprised at Ironhide's fondness for the organics, but she would support him in it, even if it took her some extra time to feel the same way, if ever.

"He's grown attached to the Lennox humans," Chromia explained to Ratchet.

Ironhide's optics widened and he looked at Chromia as if she had just given away his best kept secret.

"That's what I thought," Ratchet said.

Ratchet already suspected Ironhide considered those particular humans more than mere acquaintances. He knew that Optimus had his suspicions too. They were the only humans that Ironhide would let in his cab after all, and Ratchet knew there was something to that.

Ironhide looked from his sparkmate to the medic. "You fraggers going to patronize me about it? I'm sitting right here."

Chromia let out a sharp laugh, not at all offended and definitely amused.

Ironhide then felt Ratchet's querying thoughts in his mind and his defensive reflexes had him pulling backwards sharply. "I will punch you in the face, Ratchet. Get...Get out of my head."

Ratchet pulled his CPU wrist cable from Ironhide's CPU port immediately. He didn't realize he was transmitting and he didn't want Ironhide thinking he was tapping him. Just the thought made his plating crawl.

Ratchet held up his hands. "That was unintentional, I swear. No need to get violent."

Ironhide rubbed the back of his neck, "Can't you just get me a fragging energon cube? Why do you insist on transferring energy in this way?"

"'Cause he's a sadist," Chromia quipped, the unspoken notion that Ratchet must like getting punched in the face not lost on any of them.

They both knew a CPU energy transfer was faster and more concentrated than giving them energon cubes, as Ratchet explained to them time and again in the past, so he pointedly ignored them.

Giving Chromia an annoyed glance, Ratchet brought the conversation back to Will Lennox. "I can arrange to have the human visit, if you'd like, but I'd advise against telling him about the sparkling for now."

Ironhide looked at Ratchet straight in the optics, wondering what ever gave the medic the idea that he'd ever tell any human about his sparkling. He lost the other one. He was going to do everything in his power not to even have any _chances _at losing this one. As far as he was concerned, only he, Chromia, Ratchet, Optimus and Bumblebee were to know of Nightfire. Even if a new Autobot were arrive to Earth, he wouldn't want that bot to know.

"I'm not going to tell him, ever," Ironhide said evenly. "No one has to know for many generations. Two vorns is something like 166 years to them."

Ratchet bowed his head slightly. This next part was going to be hard. He knew Ironhide and Chromia intended to nurture their sparkling in their carrying holds and Ironhide was referring to the normal carrying time of two vorns. After two vorns, a sparkling was then upgraded into a much stronger second frame, which was obviously the time Ironhide was thinking it was safe for introductions to be made, but not before that.

The fact that they carried their first sparkling rather than having him put into an adult frame right away told Ratchet all he needed to know about their feelings on carrying and raising sparklings.

Ratchet wasn't sure how to break this to them. "I know how you both must feel about carrying..."

Maybe it was the change in his demeanor of the tone of his voice, but Chromia's face fell as the realization of what Ratchet was about to tell them hit her.

"She has to be carried," Chromia nearly whispered, her voice sounding as small as she suddenly felt. Cybertronians from bonded couples became more well adjusted adults if they went through the carrying phase. Some couples opted out, choosing to go ahead and have their sparkling fitted for an adult frame, but she did not want that for any sparkling she produced. It was easier on the creators, but much more difficult for the sparkling.

"Your new casing doesn't have the nurturing port. I couldn't program it. I couldn't find the code in your old casing. The program tried to run in your old casing, but there was a malfunction due to the damage from your injury. That was part of the reason why you were in so much pain. The code was corrupted." Ratchet sighed, adding, "Even if I could have found the correct code, I wouldn't have been able to decrypt it for your new casing."

Since they had already had a sparkling, they both had carrying holds. However, the nurturing port that the sparkling would attach to on the bottom of their spark casings was only formed each time a sparkling was created, lasting only as long as the sparkling was carried in the hold. Each time that specific port was programmed, it was unique for the newspark that formed right then. It only formed during mating and the code would have been impossible to decipher anyway.

It was a defense mechanism that no one could decrypt such personal codes, not even a medic, but that didn't keep him from trying. The code wasn't there for Chromia and he couldn't find it in Ironhide, whose casing programmed the port for their current sparkling without incident. However, he did find the coding for the port that their other sparkling used. He was actually able to decipher that one, realizing that once the sparkling was done with the port, then the code was basically useless, so it didn't have to remain encrypted. Even if he could program Chromia's new casing for their previous sparkling, though, it wouldn't work for their new one.

"I'm really sorry, Chromia," Ratchet said.

Chromia slumped against her sparkmate in sudden sadness. She had been supporting Ironhide's weight, but he had enough energy to now support hers as she became weak from sorrow.

When was she going to wake from this madness? They endured a never-ending nightmare ever since Floatilla. Even good news the likes of which they managed to produce another sparkling was tainted by that awful orn. They were going to suffer from it forever. It seemed that they were never going to escape the wounds that were dealt to them, no matter what miracles Ratchet could pull out of his circuits, such as replacing her spark casing, something she never thought she could be blessed with.

Ironhide put his arm around her, sending her as much comfort as she would accept from his spark, his own spark feeling heavy with the bad news. He was willing to do anything for her and their sparkling. There was nothing wrong with his spark casing. His spark casing was perfectly able to nourish their sparkling.

"I can carry her," Ironhide said, pulling Chromia closer in his embrace as he felt her spark swell with adoration for what he was willing to do. Carrying by himself wasn't going to be easy, but it was better than their sparkling not being carried at all.

"No," Ratchet said, already anticipating Ironhide's declaration. "You can't join at all while carrying. You both are ridiculously low on energy. This is taking a lot out of Chromia and neither one of you have equalized after your long separation."

Even though Chromia couldn't nurture Nightfire in her hold, he was happy that he was able to save her carrying hold after Floatilla. He remembered how Bumblebee needed to be carried, even though Ironhide had no port for nourishment. Bumblebee had been perfectly content to just ride in the hold, and Ironhide had proved to be perfectly content to just let him. He had no doubt that Nightfire would feel that same need, as well as both Ironhide and Chromia.

"Nightfire can still ride in you holds, like what Ironhide did with Bumblebee, but you cannot carry her for nourishment," Ratchet continued. "I can build an adult frame small enough so that you can both hide her away in your holds as long as you wish." Ratchet figured Nightfire wouldn't like that idea later in life, continuing, "She can be reformatted into a larger frame later."

"She has to be carried, Ratchet," Chromia almost pleaded. "Properly," she added firmly. "And there is no way I'd put her through reformatting once she's in an adult frame...not after watching Elita struggle with it."

Ratchet's mouth dropped open as if he'd been struck. He couldn't believe that Chromia would compare Elita's situation to his suggestion. Reformatting in and of itself was not unusual for a Cybertronian, but there were certain preparations that had to be made. He was a damn good medic. There was no way he'd reformat an adult Cybertronian that wasn't properly prepared, especially not in the way that Elita had been reformatted, which was the only reason Elita struggled with it.

"What happened to Elita is entirely different," Ratchet said quietly.

"This is not up for discussion," Ironhide stated. "I will carry her the way a sparkling is supposed to be carried. Nightfire will go through all the youngling stages until she's ready for a permanent adult frame."

"You're systems can't handle it, Ironhide," Ratchet said. "It's a joint effort. What are you going to do after the first two orns and it's time to switch out? The sparkling will drain you of everything you've got and more."

"What about Optimus?" Ironhide asked, hopeful.

"What about Optimus?" Ratchet repeated. "Optimus is not her creator, so she cannot nourish in his hold, the same way Bumblebee could not with you. He might have incubated her for a time, but that doesn't program his spark casing to nurture her."

"Then why did you tell me that Optimus would carry her if we didn't survive?" Ironhide asked somewhat irritably.

"When I said that, I didn't mean that he'd be carrying her for nourishment. You let Bumblebee ride in your hold. That was immensely comforting for Bumblebee and Optimus remembers that. He was willing to do the same thing with your sparkling," Ratchet clarified. Plus, that was what Ironhide needed to hear at the time and Ratchet knew that Ironhide understood that.

Ironhide nodded his head in acknowledgment that he understood and Ratchet actually thought Ironhide was beginning to see reason.

"I'm carrying our sparkling the right way," Ironhide asserted. "She can ride in Chromia's hold when I need to rest. I'm sure you'll figure out a way for Chromia to provide nourishment while I'm not." Ironhide's tone was unwavering, as unwavering as he would continue to be about this issue.

Chromia sat up a little straighter, her spark not as heavy knowing that Ironhide wasn't going to let their sparkling be robbed of this phase of her life. Of course, they needed it just as much and it made her sad that she couldn't nourish Nightfire properly. That was going to be hard for her, but Ironhide being able to do it made her feel a little better about it. She knew that some of Ironhide's dearest memories of Bumblebee were when the little bot was riding in Hide's hold and she was more than willing for Nightfire to do the same with her. Right now, though, all she really wanted was for the sparkling to live. She's worry about the hardships of not being able to carry her the traditional way later.

Ratchet slowly nodded his head. They did not have to continue this now. Ironhide made it obvious where they stood and Ratchet didn't think now was the time to force the issue. He would touch upon it again closer to when the newspark was ready for a frame.

"We'll come back to this later," Ratchet said, clearly indicating that there were other things to discuss right now.

"Our decision will still be the same later," Ironhide asserted, not letting Ratchet think he was going to make them change their minds. Medic or no medic, Ratchet wasn't going to tell them how to raise their sparkling, even if there were complications.

"Moving on," Ratchet said matter-of-factly.

Ironhide glared at him, "What, do you have a list or something?"

"As a medic of a couple of patients with a long history of complications, yea I do," Ratchet retorted, returning the glare.

Ironhide knew how to get under his plating and irritate the slag out of him, so as soon as the words slipped from his vocalizer, Ratchet regretted saying them. The weary look on Chromia's faceplates was enough to make him kick himself for letting Ironhide get to him so easily. She didn't look like she could take anything else, and constantly being reminded of everything they'd been through was taking its toll on her, especially after all the reminders already. She certainly didn't need him rubbing it in simply because her sparkmate liked to goad him on.

"It can wait," Ratchet said, his expression considerably softer as he looked at her.

Chromia just looked at the floor, shaking her head slightly as if in a daze. "No, we'd rather get it over with."

Ratchet reached out to touch her hand. Her optics tracked upwards until they met his.

"Don't worry, I don't have any more bad news," he assured her.

Ironhide grunted his doubt of that, but Chromia did seem to relax a little more.

"I just want to know how you did it. How did you run your mating programs?" The question wasn't purely medical, as Ratchet was really curious how they were able to create this sparkling without Chromia's frame connection. However, if he could surmise how it happened, then maybe there was more he could do for them.

Ratchet knew the newspark was unintentional based off of their reactions to it back at the Lennox's. This was the first unplanned Cybertronian spark that Ratchet knew of. There were more than likely a few others in the entire history of their race, but creating sparklings was always an intentional, deliberate act. The programs to create one could only be run when a mated pair initiated their spark mating programming.

Ratchet had thought that Ironhide would never be able to get Chromia's spark the information it needed to split, especially since Chromia wouldn't be able to receive that information without that frame connection. Yet, somehow, they did just that.

Ratchet knew they were as in the dark as he was, but he asked anyway.

Chromia actually smiled, leaning against her mate with something more than simply for support. Ironhide bent his head down and rubbed his face against hers momentarily, dropping his usual composure of not showing such affection in front of others.

"We didn't exactly do it on purpose," Ironhide commented, obviously happy that it happened, but not quite sure himself.

They didn't know how it happened, but they knew exactly the moment where it could have happened. They had only achieved such a state of being twice in their lives. The first time was when Sunshadow was created. The second time was in the storage room at the Ark, right after Ratchet replaced Chromia's weld.

Even then, they understood what they had achieved, but they had been told it could never happen again and they couldn't allow themselves to believe it was anything more than a extraordinarily fantastic overload. They didn't feel anything different afterwards like they did when Sunshadow came to be, so they just didn't talk about it. Getting their hopes up would have been too cruel to themselves. They didn't realize, however, that not feeling the sparkling didn't mean the sparkling wasn't there.

"Tell me exactly what you did," Ratchet said after a moment.

Ironhide scratched the back of his neck, looking as if he was guilty of something.

"Erm," he sounded. "Uh...you tell 'im," he continued, elbowing Chromia slightly.

Chromia pushed his offending arm away, managing to look as guilty as he did, though, for the life of her, she didn't know why they felt so self-conscious around their medic. Ratchet was so familiar with both their frames, their interfacing and joining habits to such depth that he probably could read their minds without even being linked with them. The fragger had even monitored their spark merges more times than she would like to remember, so there wasn't much about them that he wasn't already intricately familiar with.

"Well," Chromia started. She then went on to tell Ratchet how Ironhide nearly brought her to overload sometime after she first arrived.

"What do you mean 'nearly?'" Ironhide protested. "I've brought you to overload many times since you've been here."

Chromia gave him an impatient look. She was talking about a specific type of overload and Ironhide didn't wait for her to explain.

"You didn't let me finish, Hide. You want _me _to tell him or not?" Chromia asked irritably.

"Oh," Ironhide grunted apologetically, sitting quietly to let her continue.

Chromia continued, telling Ratchet how Ironhide had uploaded his CPU into hers and that while he was connected to her CPU port, he was sending her love and affection across their spark bond. She didn't know how he did it, but an overload started to build and it felt like the overloads she used to have when they interfaced through their frame connections.

"I don't know how I did it, either," Ironhide added.

"I got frustrated," Chromia continued, "because he couldn't feel it."

"And I thought I was hurting her, so I disconnected," Ironhide said. "But, I later realized it was making her feel good and I wanted to try it again."

"Oh, so that's why you did that in the closet," Chromia said, seemingly forgetting about Ratchet.

An audible cooling fan kicked on in Chromia's frame and Ironhide leaned into her, his optics dimming as a small lecherous smile crossed his face.

"You want to start that monitoring right now, Ratchet?" Ironhide said, not taking his optics off of Chromia, obviously suggestive of an impending spark merge right then and there.

"I will merge with you anywhere," Chromia said to Ironhide. "But I would prefer it if Ratchet weren't around."

"Okay, okay, you've made your point. I won't monitor you if you promise you'll merge at least three times in the next orn," Ratchet said, realizing that he wouldn't need to monitor this time around.

It looked like he wasn't going to have to tell them twice that they needed to join. They were so enamored with each other at the moment that he doubted any issues were going to get them mad enough at each other that they'd flat refuse to. That was how sparkmates were supposed to be and since they were acting like sparkmates instead of estranging themselves, then he felt he could trust them to do what he asked.

"But hang on an astrosecond," Ratchet continued, bringing them back to the subject at hand. They really hadn't answered his question. "What did you do in the closet? Was that when I caught you in the storage room?"

Ironhide chuckled, remembering how he thought he had dragged her into a closet when it was actually the energon storage room.

"Well, yes, I guess so," Chromia answered with a small smile, as if Ironhide's chuckle wasn't answer enough.

Chromia then went on the explain how Ironhide had connected to her CPU, sending her thoughts of what it had been like when they used to be able to interface, while touching her scar. She explained how her spark casing opened up for him on its own. Chromia's mind wondered back as she recounted the moment. The way Ironhide was stroking the back of her neck, no doubt ready to be rid of Ratchet so that they could get to other things, she knew he was thinking of it too...

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_...Not breaking the connection with her CPU, he cupped the back of her head with both hands, holding it firmly yet tenderly as his thumbs swept lovingly over her face. Numerous tendrils of their sparks found each other in the close space between them, intertwining and dancing together, sending waves of euphoria through their bond, their sparks and their frames from their fingers to their toes. Still conscious of each of their halves, the half that was Ironhide sent the sheer bliss that he was feeling to the CPU of the half that was Chromia. She cried out, the universe spinning in swirls of astounding emotion. Wishing for Ironhide to experience the fullness of what she was experiencing, she desperately connected her CPU cable to his interfacing port. Energy exploded through all three connections, catapulting them to a peak of exquisite rapture. Ironhide roared in ecstasy and pushed his chest fully into hers..._

888

Ratchet just stared at them in contemplation, his CPU working through numerous possibilities as the recounting brought up several thoughts and memories. Ironhide and Chromia had achieved all three connections. They never had a problem with the CPU and spark merge connections, of course, since that was not where the damage was. Yet, enough energy got through her CPU wrist cable from Ironhide's frame port to make the necessary third connection.

He remembered Nightfire telling him how he had made that connection backwards way back when he was trying to get Chromia more energy from Ironhide by connecting her CPU wrist cable to his interfacing port.

Nightfire's voice flitted through his processor.

_"You might want to avoid that configuration in the future," she commented about his current connection. "You also might want to disconnect her wrist cable from his interfacing port before you try something else?" She inflected her voice as if that was a question, but Ratchet knew it was really a statement. _

_Then, she actually winked at him, "Who knows what could happen."_

He also remembered something Nightfire said much later, about how she thought Chromia's spark would heal enough to be able to handle a sparkling.

Did Nightfire know this could happen, even without that interfacing port?

Ratchet realized that she said to avoid the configuration he had been trying and to disconnect Chromia's wrist cable connecting to Ironhide's port as a precaution against possibly triggering their mating programs. It was an extremely slim chance that that could happen, but possible enough for her to be concerned. At the time, it would have killed Chromia in the condition she was in. However now, vorns later, her spark had healed enough to handle it. It was just the casing that proved to be the problem.

Ratchet remembered Nightfire talking about CPU energy transfer being the same as energy transfer during interfacing. He knew very well that not as much energy could get through a CPU port, but it was still energy and it was still one of the connections that had to be made during mating. It still begged the question of how energy from Ironhide's interface got through Chromia's CPU wrist cable, though.

As Nightfire had so eloquently put it for him all those vorns ago, cables transferred energy and ports received it. He smiled to himself with the memory. He knew all about energy transfer, of course, but Nightfire liked to treat him like a moron whenever she got the chance. As irritating as it was at the time, it was now thought about with fondness.

_"Getting his energy through that cable in her wrist to her frame is almost impossible." _

Ratchet paused as he thought of the way Nightfire had said that. She didn't say it was _impossible _for Ironhide to transfer energy from his frame to Chromia's through her CPU cable, she just said it was _almost _impossible. That meant that there had to be a small chance in some way. The newspark resting snugly in Chromia's spark casing was all the proof of that chance that he needed.

Enough energy obviously went through Chromia's CPU cable to her frame. That probably meant that all of Chromia's neural relays in her frame had healed and were working properly. That only thing she lacked was the actual connector, the actual frame interface cable and port, the actual interface that would channel the energy. It was a port that was notoriously difficult to replace, but that port was connected to everything in a bots frame, even the CPU. Ratchet had this same thought while making the new weld for Chromia's old spark casing several orns before. Now, with this new sparkling, there was definitely something about the CPU that made this happen for them.

He studied them for a second, just knowing he was on the verge of discovering something and now wanting to let it go until he figured it out. Another memory of Nightfire presented itself.

_"Energy transfusions can be given through the CPU port, so at least __**some**_ _of the energy he expends from his overload can be channeled through that port, wouldn't you think?"_

He wasn't remembering this statement in exactly the context that she used it, but it made sense for what he was thinking now. Energy could be channeled through _that_ port, through that _CPU_ port. Energy could be channeled...

"Primus!" Ratchet suddenly exclaimed in excitement, making both Ironhide and Chromia jump.

Of course! It was so simple it had been staring him right in the face. Overloads were not normally transferred through the CPU port. CPU ports were not designed for that. Not as much energy could get through a CPU port. However, it was still a port and if enough energy could get through her CPU cable to make the third connection to create a sparkling, then a CPU port in place of an interfacing frame port had to be possible. Ratchet could fit a CPU port in Chromia's frame.

Since Ironhide was able to transfer energy from his interfacing frame port through Chromia's CPU wrist cable, then an interfacing frame cable should be able to transfer energy through a CPU port. He could not fit her with an interfacing port because those ports were too intricately connected to sensory relays, but he could fit her with an interfacing cable and try putting a CPU port where her frame port used to be.

Ratchet smiled, marveling at this new development. Why hadn't he thought of this before? It was just never done, he supposed. Ports and cables were not mixed that way. A CPU port was usually a CPU port only. It never crossed his mind to see if it could work as a frame interfacing port as well. It would not be as intricately connected to all her relays and wouldn't be as sensitive to touch as a regular interfacing frame port would be, but it could still be used to funnel energy.

Ratchet jumped up in his excitement and both Ironhide and Chromia startled again. They looked at each other in puzzlement as he made his way for the door.

Ratchet wanted to get to work on configuring a CPU port to Chromia's specifications right away. If this worked, she would be able to get all the energy she needed while she was incubating and beyond. It would even allow Ironhide to carry their sparkling the proper way. He didn't want that at first because they can't join while carrying, which was their main source of energy, but now that Chromia would hopefully be able to interface in this way again, she would be able to give Ironhide all the energy he would need while carrying.

"Wait, Ratchet," Chromia called after him. "Where is Bumblebee?"

Ratchet turned in the doorway, looking as if he almost made it out of there, but got caught.

"He was with Optimus earlier," Ratchet answered. "I'm not quite sure where he is right now."

Ironhide and Chromia exchanged a glance and Ratchet turned to leave again.

Ironhide's voice stopped him this time and he turned around again in barely contained impatience.

"Where's Optimus?" Ironhide asked.

Ironhide and Chromia hadn't seen Optimus at all since the newspark was placed back with Chromia. For Ironhide, it was longer than that, since he was unconscious through it all.

"He's looking for something he said he wants to give you," Ratchet answered.

Right at that moment, Optimus appeared in the doorway. Ratchet used the distraction to make his leave, both getting to his task at hand and allowing the others to have some time alone.

Optimus had an object in his hand and all he did for a long moment was just stand there looking strangely nervous.

Ironhide felt numerous strange emotions that were not his own or Chromia's. Chromia's hand came up to rest on her chest and Ironhide realized that she could feel them too. They swirled around and through his spark until they became a part of his own feelings. It was foreign, yet familiar. Apprehensive, but curious, Ironhide tried reaching out to Optimus through his spark. Suddenly, the emotions were gone again and Ironhide got the distinct impression that he was cut off from a bond again. However, the expression on Optimus's faceplates did not give any indication that it was him.

Optimus simply stepped forward and placed the object in Ironhide's hand.

"I want to return this to you," he said. "I believe your new little one will love it," he added, smiling.

Ironhide looked at the palm of his hand to see what it was and his spark exploded with such emotion that Chromia jumped. Neither one of them noticed Optimus take a step back.

Ironhide just stared at the object for long moments, stunned. He slowly turned it over in his hands, unable to speak. He had no words for what he was looking at. All he had were emotions.

The object was covered with welds, evidence that it had once been shattered, but was considered precious enough to fix by somebody. Someone had tried to paint over the weld scars, but it wasn't the coloration that had his attention. He traced the weld lines with his fingers.

Chromia thought she recognized the object, but couldn't quite place it. It looked like some sort of toy that was shaped like Ironhide's alt mode from back on Cybertron. However, it was painted in Optimus's coloration. The paint job looked like it had been done by a sparkling. The paint job covered numerous weld marks where it had obviously been repaired by someone. She remembered finding a toy like it in their domicile back on their home world and she remembered taking it to the med bay where she gave it to Nightfire. She didn't remember anything else about it, though, and she didn't remember all the weld marks, much less the colors.

When Ironhide found his voice again, he looked up to ask where Optimus had gotten it from, but he was already gone.

The irony that this object was a likeness of himself as well as a symbol of the tragedy of his life was not lost on him. He had broken it all those vorns ago like he himself was broken. Yet, now it had a new meaning. It bore all the scars of being broken, but it had been repaired. It had been through a lot of wear and tear, but it was still whole. This was a completing moment and Ironhide marveled that Nightfire was still communicating to them after all this time. This object now represented their healing.

Several of the memories that Ironhide shared with Chromia suddenly clicked in her CPU as she realized what it must be.

"Is that Little Dide?" she asked.

Ironhide suddenly took her in his arms in a loving embrace, hugging them both to his chassis as he rested his cheek-plating against Chromia's head before answering in a quiet baritone.

"Yes."

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** This chapter heavily referenced chapters 8, 11, 12, 25, 33, 34, 38, 40, and 49. You can go back and re-read those chapters as a memory refresher if you'd like. I also have included some summaries of each one below.

NOTE: Carrying in this fic is NOT a pregnancy. The way carrying is used in this fic is completely different, as a sparkling can go in and out of the carry hold as he/she pleases and BOTH creators take turns 'carrying' their sparkling. Babies cannot leave and then return to the womb of a pregnant mother at all. The way carrying is used in this story is one hundred percent my idea. Also, there is a difference between incubating and carrying. When a newspark is first formed, he/she is incubated in the spark chamber next to the femme creator's spark. Incubating is when the newspark remains there for long enough until the newspark is ready to be placed in his/her first frame. If you must insist on applying the term 'pregnancy' to anything in this fic (as I must have failed in stressing that robot beings don't get pregnant, because so many reviewers keep referring to my reproduction ideas as that), then incubating is more like a pregnancy than carrying. 'Carrying' is done AFTER the sparkling has been placed in his/her first frame. The sparkling is nurtured in the carrying holds of both his/her creators.

Also, I gave some clues to Elita's past situation. I know that I haven't given away much about her yet, but her full story will be told before this story is finished *big grin*

Ch. 8: Information on sparkling carrying and carrying holds and Chromia's observation that Bumblebee had been 'carried,' how she knew that, and her own opinions on why carrying is important.

Ch. 11: Where Ironhide nearly brings Chromia to an overload similar to that felt while interfacing through the frame connections (interfacing cable and port in the frame, which Chromia is missing due to her injury described in Ch. 10).

Ch. 12: Information on sparkling attachment cables and the nourishment port of the creators. Also the chapter where Ironhide first allows Bumblebee inside his carrying chamber.

Ch. 25: CPU and frame ports and cables energy transfer information. Where Nightfire told Ratchet he had the connection he was trying to get energy through from Ironhide to Chromia backwards. This is where she told him he might want to avoid certain connections because you never know what might happen (the first foreshadowing of a future sparkling).

Ch. 33: The chapter where we first see Little Dide and how important the toy was to Sunshadow. Chromia deletes all memory of Little Dide in this chapter and ends up giving it to Nightfire with the statement that she didn't know where it came from.

Ch. 34: More on Chromia deleting Little Dide. Nightfire, realizing it must be a toy Sunshadow played with, lays it to rest with the deceased sparkling.

Ch. 38: More CPU port energy transfer information and where the Decepticon Nightfire asked Ratchet why he saved Chromia's carrying hold. This is where Nightfire says she believes Chromia's spark is going to heal over time, indicating that it may be possible for her to have another sparkling (more foreshadowing of a future sparkling). Also, Ratchet's thoughts are in this chapter on how to counter the shrapnel possibility during Chromia's operation to change out her spark casing during the undescribed operation in Ch. 58: "He had been thinking about ways to counter the shrapnel possibility ever since she arrived to Earth. Perhaps a continuous magnetic pulse, directed the right way, could stabilize any possible shards and keep them from moving and damaging her spark during transfer. It was still very risky, but it would be worth it for both her and Ironhide if it worked." So, just as an aside and if you're curious to know, this is what Ratchet did during the operation and it did work.

Ch. 40: The chapter where Ironhide finds Little Dide with his deceased sparkling and accidentally breaks it in a fit of rage against Nightfire. After Ironhide leaves, Nightfire picks up the pieces.

Ch. 49: The exact moment where Hide and Mia's new sparkling, Nightfire, was created. This chapter also shows where Ironhide shared memories with Chromia about Little Dide (after she asks about what it is upon seeing numerous memory files in his CPU about it).

I hope the techno-babble wasn't too cumbersome and that it made some sense. Thank you all for reading and feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think, as this chapter nearly killed me *faints*

I keep having trouble with fanfiction. Sometimes I can get on, sometimes I can't, and it's been kicking me out of stories as I read them. If you get kicked out, please come back.

Happy Thanksgiving week! To those who don't celebrate it, have a happy week anyway!

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	62. Impetus Part I

(posted December 18, 2010) Happy Holidays!

Thanks so much to the marvelous **REVIEWERS** of Ch. 61:

**Ria Everwood: **You're all caught up! I'm happy that you're so happy. Thank you so much for all those wonderful back reviews! I get so excited when I get new readers, especially ones that leave reviews and tell me what they're thinking! You're wonderful for doing that and I'm so glad the story has captured your heart.

**TanithLipsky**: Thank you *smile* I'm glad you liked it.

**LadyTecuma: **Woo hoo! Thank you! The details get more and more complicated, so I'm glad they're appreciated^^

**Shizuka Taiyou**: You'll find out for sure soon enough (though the Elita situation is the last part of the storyline). Bee and Optimus are definitely getting closer. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

**Borath**: Yay for warm and fuzzy *smile* The way carrying is used in this fic is unique to this story, though there aren't many fics out there with Ironhide 'carrying' the way other people use that term either. I explored it a little in early chapters where Ironhide carried Bumblebee in the way that I use it, but now I'll be able to really delve into it much deeper. Thank you!

**Emosugarcube**: Thank you! "Near-Tear experience" *giggles* That's a fun way to put it. I'm glad you liked all the elements to the chapter so much. Yea, it's sad about Nightfire, but once a sparkmate dies, there isn't anything anyone can do for the other. We'll see how Ratchet does with his mission *smile* Oh, and I got your PM! I'm so sorry I haven't replied. I got a little swamped with dA ^^; But, that's so cool! I'm glad my story can entertain you so much.

**Flameshield: **Whew, I'm glad it was information overload in a good way. You're right on Little Dide. I'll be going into the 'when' later. I don't actually have a chapter goal. My outline changes after almost every chapter. Some planned chapters have turned into two and sometimes several come together as one, so I've stopped trying to figure out how many I may end up with a long time ago. I have two more topics to go through: Bumblebee and Elita. So, you'll know I'm close to the end when I get to Elita's part of the story. It may end up being 100 chapters, though, who knows *smile*

**jazzgirl84: **Thank _you _for another awesome review *smile* Ironhide loves the Lennox family and, while he does tend to keep his emotions to himself, he has a harder time hiding his emotions for those that he truly cares about. He could trust Will and he may consider that *wink* Thank you for the compliments on writing Ratchet. I'm so glad I got his caring side down well. I'll be showing how Optimus got Little Dide. Thank you!

**Anasazi Darkmoon: **LOL! Seahorse *wink* You did mention it before, actually. I'm glad you like the carrying holds idea. And thank goodness the technobabble wasn't too confusing. I was really worried about that. And, oh crap, it would be more correct to use the word 'masochist' instead of 'sadist.' I need to go and change that. Thank you for pointing that out.

**Faecat**: Yay! Someone who professes their love for the technobabble! And it's kinda scary how well you can read my brain *wink* And, yup, you were totally right about the 'miracle moment!' Optimus is going to need help before it is all said and done, so your wish may come true fairly soon *wink* Ratchet is so fun to right when he has those 'ah ha' moments. He wants to make the lives of his patients as good as they can be and, while not all of them can be perfect by any stretch of the imagination, he does strive to make it as perfect as possible. Yup, Little Dide has become quite a symbol in this story. You'll be seeing it again (and your suspicion on the paint job is correct!). I hadn't actually included that part yet, but it's a logical conclusion and could feel as if it had already been written. As far as your side note: don't worry about making a note on the toy idea. It's not that unique of an idea to my story. Kids play with toys that remind them of things they love all the time. That was the motivation behind Little Dide and it certainly looks like you thought of the same thing with Annabelle too. That's cute *smile* Of course, if you write of a child that played with a toy that looked just like his dad and then the child died and the toy was passed along to another child, eventually finding its way back to the 'father'...well, then I might get suspicious *snort-laugh*

**Zeng Xiao Long Sunstar Crystal**: Thank you! I aspire to make it great *smile* I will keep on keeping on! That's awesome that you checked out my photos. I hope your younglings found the bots they were looking for. That's wonderful that ya'll enjoyed them so much *smile* Hummer! Awesome!

**plenoptic**: EEKS! LOL! Sorry about all the confusion. Down Dell-Laptop-Dragon! *snickers* Thank goodness for the emotional stuff, then *winks* Nope, it wasn't Optimus that repainted Little Dide *big grin* Thank you so much for the constructive criticism. I definitely over-explained that, diminishing the impact. I guess I was afraid people would have forgotten about it since it's been over a year since Little Dide was first introduced *face-palm* I should have known better and it's super nice to know that it has been an obvious symbol from the very beginning. High school English has been good to you *hugs you* No, Nightfire didn't have any kind of premonition; she was just a very intuitive femme. That's an interesting thought, though XD I strive for a big review response and try to keep the quality of writing up to keep it coming, of course *smile* Ironhide will be able to carry the sparkling properly. Chromia will not be able to, because her new casing isn't programmed for this particular sparkling (though the sparkling can still ride in her hold). There is nothing Ratchet can do about that, but at least he is figuring out a way for at least one of them to be able to do it. However, if they were to ever spark again, Chromia's new casing will program properly for that one. It didn't work with this one, because she didn't have the new casing when the sparkling was created. In chapter 52, it shows that Elita is changed, which was the first hint that she'd been reformatted. Both this chapter and that one are definitely foreshadowing. Her reformatting hasn't been discussed fully yet, so no worries; you haven't missed that part. I will be getting to it after the telling of how Bumblebee was created. So, Elita and Optimus are getting some focus time soon. Their part is the last part of the story (though it will be a long part). Your reviews are very smile-worthy. Thank you so much! XDDD This next chapter is certainly emotional...I'm not sure about lovey-dovey emotional, but there's lots of emotion being thrown around *wink*

**Saberfang90: **Yup, little Nightfire is going to be just fine. I'm glad you liked the part with Little Dide. That toy has become quite symbolic in the storyline. Thank you! ^_^

**renegadewriter8**: Aw, thank you! I'm so glad you loved it so much. And Ratchet is pure love. It's fun writing him when he gets excited about something *smile*

**flamingmarsh**: Yup! Nightfire knew it was important. It comes up a few more times too *smile*, as I'll show how Optimus ended up with it.

**kris126**: OMG, YOUR REVIEW MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD! I love it. Thank you! *hugs*

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: Graytail17, TanithLipsky, Ria Everwood, FunkyMonkey19**

**[Story Alert]: Graytail17, autobotlover, Ria Everwood**

**[Favorite Author]: Flameshield**

**[Author Alert]: Flameshield, bunnystar12**

**Visitor Country Reader Traffic, Nov. 2010**: United States, Canada, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, Portugal, Finland, Luxembourg, Philippines, Mexico, Poland, Taiwan, Brazil, Czech Revar, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Germany, Norway, Indonesia, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Chile, Italy, Argentina, India, France, Peru, Ireland, and New Zealand!

**CREDITS: **The name 'Nightfire' belongs to **lady tecuma **from her story **'Sparks and Plasma.'**

**THANK YOU: **Thanks to **Faecat **for listening to my thoughts on how these next two chapters would go.

**NOTES: **There is a flashback that was also in ch. 26 in this chapter. The repeat was necessary. There is a little extra to it that I left out in ch. 26 that was meant for this moment, but it's still kinda bad planning on my part. I guess this is the problem with non-linear story-telling ^^; Of course, you could view it as an incomplete scene that is completed in this chapter *smile*

I wrote and wrote and wrote while writing this chapter and actually ended up writing two *dance* So, you won't have to wait near as long for the next chapter this time. I'll post it up when things settle down a little with our traveling for Christmas, not to mention Christmas (which is only a week away, EEKS; we have so much to do!). It's not the longest chapter in the world, but the next one is coming much sooner than usual. Have a great holiday season everybody!

_Italics_ are flashbacks.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Impetus

Part I

Chapter 62

by Litahatchee

Bumblebee sat in the command center where Optimus had left him. He was passing the time by looking over the charts Optimus had accessed. Two sets of optics looking were better than one, he figured. Perhaps he could find something Optimus missed.

Though, he couldn't concentrate on it very well. His CPU was racing with the events and revelations of the past several orns. It was an immense relief to find out that Optimus truly was his creator, but Optimus's hesitation about Elita confused him. He was further confused by the fact that Ironhide and Chromia's sparkling knew who her creators were, even when she was in Optimus's spark casing. He didn't have that same feeling about Elita at all.

How could Elita not be his Cybertronian 'mother' if Optimus was bonded to her? As far as Bumblebee knew, no one outside of a spark bond, aside from the AllSpark, could even create a sparkling. So, that being the case, how did Optimus do it and who with?

Bumblebee thought about the red-optic'd femme that he knew was his first lost bond. Was she his femme creator? Again, if Optimus was already bonded, then how did he do that? Who _was _the red-optic'd femme to begin with? Chromia seemed to recognize her when Bumblebee spoke of her. Perhaps he should ask her.

Chromia...

Could he ask her? Would she listen to him?

He was so happy that Ironhide and Chromia were going to be okay. He had no idea how it worked, but he was glad that Optimus was able to help save them by being a surrogate parent through the worst of it. The bond that formed between the sparkling and Optimus because of that was puzzling. It was strange to be able to feel Ironhide's sparkling.

Bumblebee wasn't sure what to think about that yet. He couldn't feel it right at that moment, however, so it must have been that he could only feel it when he was around Optimus. That was similar to the way he could feel Ironhide. He could only feel Ironhide when he was around Chromia.

He figured it must have had to do with the ones he had a bond with. He could feel the others through those bonds, but only when he was in close proximity with the one he and the other had a mutual bond with.

Bumblebee shook his head; spark bonds truly were complicated.

He hadn't gone to see Ironhide and Chromia yet, though. Truth be told, he was afraid to.

He had thought that if Optimus were really his creator, then he wouldn't need to worry about rejection any longer. However, he found he was still worried and it only brought up other things that worried him more.

Elita and Chromia were very close friends, that much he gathered while Chromia gave her accounting of how they were separated. If Optimus found a way to spark mate with another femme, then Elita would surely hate the resulting sparkling and Chromia would, no doubt, follow suit. He didn't know how infidelity would work for Cybertronians, or if it even existed in their culture, but he saw it break up humans plenty of times.

There was that, and there was the fact that he was still related to Megatron. Chromia had even helped sooth his pain from that loss. What would she think if she had known that? Would she have even wanted to touch him if she had known his most recent lost bond was Megatron? Futhermore, how could he have such a void over the loss of someone so vile? Optimus told him it wasn't wrong to feel the loss of someone who he had a bond with, no matter who it was. But who, aside from Optimus, would even care if it was found out that he was suffering over the most hated Cybertronian in the multi-verse?

And what would Ironhide think?

Ironhide...

He now had a sparkling, one of his very own from his very own spark. This would be a sparkling that he could feel and carry as only a creator could.

Bumblebee spent a lot of time in Ironhide's carrying hold, but even he knew it was never the same for Ironhide. He didn't know why it was there until recently. He didn't know why Ironhide was so sad until recently. But now, now Ironhide got something back that he'd lost. There was no way Bumblebee could compete with that. This sparkling would be Ironhide's everything, and Bumblebee would just have been the crutch that got him to this point.

Bumblebee...

Ironhide was his family. He always had been. Where did he fit in his family unit now? Was he still a part of Ironhide's family unit? Or, was he expected to now try and built a new family unit with Optimus, now that he knew he was his creator? How was that going to work if Elita were still alive and she and Optimus were ever reunited?

It would be so easy for Ironhide and Chromia to just disregard him, especially now that they had another sparkling. They had their own sparkling, one that would surely replace him. He was nothing but Bumblebee: relative of the one that murdered their first sparkling.

These spark bonds were getting so complicated that now he wished he never knew they existed in the first place. Bumblebee often heard the humans say that ignorance was bliss; now he understood what that statement truly meant.

He buried his face in his hands in mental exhaustion, a couple of datapads being pushed out of the way by his elbows as he thrust them upon the holo-projection table. They clattered this way and that, but he paid them no mind, sighing air out of his vents as he shuttered his optics and kept his face buried. After a moment, he unshuttered one, peaking through his fingers to make sure he hadn't disrupted any organization of the maps that Optimus might have had them in.

That's when he saw it...

It was a datapad, benign enough on a table full of datapads, buried beneath everything as an afterthought. However, it was the label that caught his optic or, more precisely, the part of the label that he could see: ...icade.

Bumblebee sat up and then reached down and grabbed it, pulling it out from underneath the pile. He just stared at it a moment, unsure if he had just been handed a fortuitous possibility or a curse from the Pit. As he accessed the information on the datapad, a plan started to formulate in his head. He had thought that there might be something he could do to win Chromia's spark before, but he didn't have the information to make it happen.

Now he had it...

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Ratchet was tired, but his mind was too full to recharge. He ran into a snag with the port idea, so he decided to take a break from that. He had a salvaged CPU port available, but he ran into a coding error while trying to match it with Chromia's frame coding. He was certain he could fix it, but he just needed to work on something else for awhile.

He went through his inventory of salvaged and spare parts. Like all medics during the war, especially when spare parts started becoming scarce, he always salvaged as much as could be recycled from both fallen comrades and enemies. It was not what he liked to have to do, but it was necessary. Everyone understood that, but Ratchet kept it to himself where he got spare parts from most of the time.

He went back to the CPU port, but still couldn't get it to program correctly. Grumbling to himself, he decided he needed a longer escape. It wasn't necessarily an escape from work, as he decided that working on the sparkling frame would be a nice respite.

Anything to do with a new sparkling amongst them was the perfect escape. Just looking at the frame design put a smile on his face.

His smile was a little short lived when he got to the part of the design that would require an attachment cable if the sparkling were to be carried. He skipped that part for the moment, keeping the option open. If he could get the port to work, then he would install what the sparkling would need to be carried properly.

Ratchet gathered all the parts together that were donated for little Nightfire's frame and began the process of melting them down and reforming them, gathering the different sized wrenches he'd need for the job. He didn't remember the last time he built a sparkling frame. It wasn't his specialty by far, but he had built sparkling frames before the onslaught of the war. He didn't even remember the last time there was a sparkling...

His CPU wandered to Bumblebee. That was the last sparkling, he supposed. He certainly hadn't seen one since then.

Ratchet knew what Optimus did. There was only one way Optimus could have gotten his spark to split at all. He knew the theory well and it appeared that it had finally been tested, and was successful. The implications of that success was enormous for their kind, but dangerous in light of what the war had become.

Ratchet began working on the design of little Nightfire's face and the face of another appeared in his memory...

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_"Nightfire, I can't let you do this," Ratchet had been trying to convince her for several breems that she was making the wrong decision. _

_No one knew what to do with Floatilla after the massacre, so the decision was unanimous when it was decided that it should be completely leveled. With that decision came another decision by an individual that no one but her closest friend at the time knew about._

_Nightfire intended to be in the city when it was blown. Ratchet found that out from Chromia when it was nearly too late. He stopped the scheduled detonations and went after her. _

_"I should have died here," Nightfire said to him._

_Ratchet watched her face. It was so full of pain and despair. His spark nearly shattered right then and there. She wouldn't look at him. _

_"If you had died here, where would we be? Where would Ironhide and Chromia be? Where would Optimus be?"_

_"Yea, that's always been my dream as a Decepticon: to help the Autobots," she said, her words dripping in sarcasm. "And don't get me started on Ironhide...and Chromia is lost. _

_Nothing I say or do gets through to her."_

_Ignoring the Autobot comment, Ratchet focused on Chromia, "It'll get through. It's in her mind. When the time comes, she'll remember."_

_"Will she?" Nightfire looked up at him, a knowing look on her face. _

_Both she and Ratchet knew that Chromia had been deleting memory files. It was something they worked hard to dissuade, but of no avail._

_Ratchet sighed. He tried another approach, "You saved Elita. Optimus is forever in your debt."_

_"I didn't save Elita; she saved herself," Nightfire replied._

_"That's not the way Optimus sees it," Ratchet said back._

_"Prime can see whatever he wants," she said._

_"She never would have made it, if it weren't for you!" Ratchet was getting angry. This femme was impossibly hard-headed._

_"Congratulations to me, then," she replied in that sarcastic tone again. A moment of silence went by before she added quietly, "I have fulfilled my obligations. Let me go, Ratchet."_

_Ratchet held out his hand, not intending to let her go, "Please, come back with me."_

_"Why are you doing this?" she was growing frustrated too. _

_Ratchet just kept staring at her face. She still wouldn't look at him. He wanted so badly to make things right for her. He knew that was impossible, but he wanted to try with all his spark anyway._

_Ratchet's voice grew soft. "Because," he hesitated. "...Because I enjoy your company too much." _

_As much of a pain in his aft as she was, he had begun to like her presence. She simultaneously angered and amused him. He never knew what she was going to say next, and he loved that about her. He could no longer imagine his med bay without her in it. _

_No other Cybertronian had made an impression on him the way she had. She still had some time left. She could live awhile longer. He couldn't let her go now, not like this, not when there was still time. _

_Nightfire's head seemed to hang lower than it already was. "I can never love you, Ratchet."_

_Ratchet knew that she couldn't love him. She had already bonded. A sparkmate bond could never be broken and the two mates actually weren't even capable of loving another._

_"I can live with that," Ratchet said after a moment. He just wanted her to remain with him for as long as her spark would allow it. Just being able to spend time with her was enough for him._

_Finally, Nightfire looked up at Ratchet, her sad optics searching his as she tried to fathom how he could get so close to her spark._

_Nightfire reached out from where she was sitting, and grasped Ratchet's outstretched hand, allowing him to lead her out of the city to whatever life lay ahead of her._

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Ratchet remembered that Nightfire worked on something with Wheeljack not too long after that.

Several things came together for Ratchet immediately when Optimus showed him that Bumblebee was his. The hush-hush experiments that Wheeljack was working on certainly sprang to mind. Nightfire had been right there with Wheeljack. It was something important...It was something that gave her further reason to live as long as she could. Now Ratchet was beginning to realize it was something that actually allowed her to live as long as she did.

It had to have been the creation of Bumblebee. A spark bond with a sparkling would definitely allow Nightfire to live through the sparkshock of losing her sparkmate. It wouldn't save her from death, but it would certainly prolong her life for a little while longer than what she would have had. Ratchet always wondered how she lived as long as she did; it would make sense if there were a sparkling around.

However, he still couldn't find anything on a sparkling in Nightfire's memories. Maybe there was something else Wheeljack did to prolong her life. She was against anyone experimenting on her, but maybe she eventually allowed it. Though, Ratchet couldn't find anything in Nightfire's memories that would indicate that was the case either. Something was very strange...Something was missing...

Perhaps Chromia was right. Perhaps Nightfire didn't give him that part of her memory in order to protect the most important secret she had, the most important secret any Cybertronian could have. She obviously didn't give something to him for a certain amount of time. He just hadn't noticed it before until now. If she were involved with Bumblebee's creation, then it would make sense why she wouldn't include that, as a sparkling created at that time in the way it was done would have been at the top of the top-secret list.

Ratchet searched through his own memory to see what he was doing around that time that could maybe give him some clues. It was strange to him that Optimus did not involve his best medic during such a risky and audacious procedure. However, something about that made him stall...

Ratchet paused and then checked again. He shuttered and unshuttered his optics, and then checked again.

"Holy Primus," he whispered to himself in absolute shock.

At that moment, he realized that a certain amount of time of his own memory gone.

He checked Nightfire's CPU download again and confirmed the she had, indeed, left a certain amount of time out. Then he checked his own memory again.

It wasn't just a certain amount of Nightfire's memory that was missing, it was _his. _The exact same amount of time at the exact time of memory was missing...the exact same vorn, same orns, same joors, same breems, right down to the same astroseconds...

Ratchet's next thought was Bumblebee's age. He did several calculations on Bumblebee's age and the time-frame of his missing memories along with the ones Nightfire left out...

...Ratchet dropped the wrench he was holding in shock.

It was time to go have that chat with Optimus.

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Optimus made his way back to his command center. He didn't feel that he could stay with Ironhide and Chromia. He could feel their sparkling and he didn't want to complicate things if Ironhide and Chromia could feel him through her.

Everything happened so fast, he was at a loss of what his place was in that dynamic. He very much doubted that Ironhide wanted him to have a place at all. They had always been very close friends, but Ironhide kept matters of the spark to himself for the most part.

Optimus noticed that Bumblebee was no longer in the room. He didn't expect the young bot to still be hanging around in there, but he idly wondered where he went anyway.

He felt sadness in his spark for the way things had to be. He felt sadness for keeping Elita and Bumblebee apart. He wanted to explain things to Bumblebee when things settled down for them, but since when had things been settled for any of them from the time the war began? He would like to explain things to Bumblebee now.

One orn, he would have to explain things to Elita. He hoped he got that chance. The void in his spark was persistent. It had been 7.5 orns since he had the spark-shattering pain that may have indicated her death. The only comfort he had was that he felt it once before. However, that time, he didn't have to live with the void for this long...Maybe she really was gone this time.

Optimus started looking through the charts, nearly frantic to find where that space bridge was, or just anything, any clue that could show him where he could start searching.

He had to know what happened to her. He had to see for himself before he succumbed to death. He had to know her fate. He couldn't stand not knowing. Bumblebee could keep him going and he knew it, but only for so long. Perhaps this new bond with Ironhide and Chromia's sparkling would help too.

He had to hold on...He had to hold on long enough to know.

He tried to comm Bumblebee and then reached out to him through their bond. Bumblebee heard him and then promptly shut him out.

Optimus paused...That was odd.

Optimus rubbed his chin in confusion of Bumblebee's strange behaviour. He spotted a few datapads that had been rearranged. That's when one of them caught his optic.

He picked up the datapad in question and saw that it had been recently accessed...

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Ratchet tried Optimus's office first and when he didn't find him there, he went to his quarters, thinking he might be taking a much needed rest. When he didn't find him there either, he went to the command center where Optimus had been earlier.

Optimus wasn't there either. Ratchet hoped he hadn't left the Ark. He needed Optimus to stay on the Ark just in case something went wrong with Chromia. He had made that plainly clear to Optimus and Optimus didn't seem to mind having to stay for awhile.

Ratchet saw several maps projected on a holo-emitter table. He looked at them and noticed that they were of areas where Chromia said she was separated from the others. It appeared that Optimus was tracking where the space bridge could have taken her and he was trying to locate where the space bridge was to begin with.

Ratchet's spark felt heavy. Optimus was obviously looking for Elita, but it didn't appear that he was having much luck with where to even begin.

There were several datapads scattered about the table. Ratchet was about to leave and go see if Optimus might have gone to the med bay to see Ironhide and Chromia when one of the datapads caught his optic. He reached down and picked it up, irritation swelling within him.

The datapad was labeled 'Barricade.' It contained information where Optimus had been tracking the whereabouts of the wayward Decepticon. All this time, they had been led to believe that Barricade wasn't anywhere to be found. However, apparently, Optimus knew where he was the entire time. Ratchet was not as irritated about that as he was about what the recent access to the datapad might have meant about what Optimus was doing at that moment. Optimus was nowhere to be found, because Optimus was no longer on the Ark.

Ratchet comm-ed him immediately, letting every bit of his irritation flow through his voice, **"Optimus, I don't think now is a good time to be going after Barricade." **He paused and then added, **"If that is what you are doing, I'm declaring you medically unfit for duty."**

The only conclusion that Ratchet could come to for Optimus doing this right now was that the mech must have completely lost his mind.

To Ratchet's surprise, Optimus answered almost immediately, **"I'm not going after Barricade. I'm trying to prevent Bumblebee from making a grave mistake."**

Bumblebee? Ratchet looked at the datapad again, following the files that had been accessed. What did Bumblebee have to gain to be going after Barricade? What was that youngling thinking?

Optimus's voice came over the comm again, **"Have the med bay ready, just in case."**

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Optimus Prime sped towards the last location of Barricade that he had recorded in the datapad. He had been tracking the mech for years. He didn't tell anyone he was doing that. He knew the humans wanted the Decepticon's metal hide, but he wasn't going to allow that.

Decepticon or not, Barricade was still a Cybertronian.

He didn't think he needed to let the other Autobots know. They would do what he told them to do, but some things were just best kept under wraps. Prime figured that as long as Barricade wasn't causing trouble, then he wasn't trouble. He kept tabs on the mech, but he left the mech alone. For Barricade's part, he had been keeping himself hidden for years and hadn't done anything at all to harm anyone or bring attention to himself.

Optimus figured one of two things could happen: the Decepticons would return to retrieve their abandoned comrade, or Barricade would eventually come to the Autobots for much-needed maintanence and repair. If the first situation came to pass, Optimus and his Autobots would be there to protect anything that needed it. However, he was certain that the second situation was the most likely. For all intents and purposes, it appeared that Barricade had been abandoned for good.

He wasn't in contact with any other Decepticons, that much Optimus was certain. He also noticed, especially in recent orns, that Barricade had been gradually moving closer and closer to the Ark. That led Optimus to believe that he probably finally needed help, but was too much of a proud Decepticon to ask for it.

Of course, he could have been concerned for his safety too. They had been enemies for a long time. Optimus hadn't exactly reached out and offered help of any kind, so as far as Barricade knew, he'd be blown to pieces if any of the Autobots saw him lurking outside of their ship.

Optimus would just go ahead and change that perception once and for all, as long as Bumblebee and Barricade hadn't slagged each other by the time he got to them.

8888


	63. Impetus Part II

(posted January 1, 2011) Happy Binary New Year!

Thanks so much to the fantabulous **REVIEWERS** of Ch. 62 (a long 3.25-page thank you AN, so you can skip down to the clearly marked start of the 11-page chapter if you'd like):

**Quacked Lurker**: Yay for action! I'm glad the flashback repetition helped the flow of the chapter/story. Thanks for the banana bread *takes a bite* BB is still young and can definitely be impulsive, which this whole thing with going after Barricade is an impulsive decision he didn't think through very well. BB is definitely being irrational and I like to write this younger side of him. He's a being that has experienced war and very real-life stuff, but he's still young. I'm glad you are loving these plays on emotion and familial tangles. I didn't minor in psychology, but I do have a natural grasp *smile* I suppose BB felt Chromia could have room in her spark for him and the sparkling she lost, but when the new one comes into the picture, it changes his perception. It's harder when there's a new life and maybe he feels there's a competition there. He needs some reassurance, poor bot. Hide and Mia won't like having Barricade around, that's for sure. If BB had asked them, they would prefer him not going after the Con. This is definitely more a curse for them than BB knows or understands. Taking spare parts may have been sacrilegious when the war started, but then it became a necessity as the war completely ravaged their planet and themselves. I know where the part in question came from, but I may not mention it in the story, as some people might not like it. The attachment cable won't be a recycled part, though. Sunshadow's body is gone and BB's was reused in his second frame as another part. It's glossed over because Ratchet isn't sure if he should install it. As far as the theory for an alternate creation of a sparkling: that is why Ratchet was so concerned about it. The implications of that possibility would mean that a new war could be started (have you read chapter 61? I think you missed that one...). Oh, and you are so perceptive on the 'news' of BB being the last sparkling and the way I stated that! Read on in chapter 63! *big grin* Ratchet did, indeed, help save them all by 'saving' Nightfire. Optimus and Elita spent some time together, yes, but she was never told of the plan to create a sparkling. I will be explaining Ratchet's missing memories *smile* BB didn't cover his tracks well *wink* A common link! Yes! Yea, they didn't go through anything similar to BB when they were his age. That is a good point! They also don't fully understand human culture and phases of live. The misunderstandings kinda go both ways between the humans and Cybertronians there. BB needs some answers, but isn't asking the right questions. As far as Barricade? Go on to ch. 63 *big grin* Though, I can't promise that there isn't another cliffhanger, EEKS! *runs away* Thank you so much!

**Flameshield: **Hey! I'm glad you were able to review *hugs* Bee is chasing Cade because he has it in his mind that he'll gain approval from Chromia. Poor bot thinks he needs approval to be accepted, but he really doesn't, of course. I hope I'm getting that across, but I might be falling short. Ah, the missing memories; I can't wait to get to the events surrounding that! Thank you!

**Emosugarcube**: Yea, feeling out of place can make folks do foolish things, indeed. That's what I was trying to get across with BB doing this. That's funny that you thought Barricade's slow migration towards the Autobots is funny, LOL. Awesome *smile* I imagine that someone like him would be feeling a little homesick and wanting to be close to his own kind, even if they are 'enemies.'

**Shizuka Taiyou**: I'm so glad! Thank you *smile* You might be close with what happened to Ratchet, though there's more to it, of course *smile*

**LadyJet2**: *evil laughter* LOL! Love your review *smiles* I'm so glad you're addicted to my writing! I tried to update sooner, but we flew home for Christmas and no one had working Internet. It was both maddening and a good break from Internet life. Thank you!

**Ria Everwood**: EEKS! Read on to see how fast Prime gets to BB...Oh man, the humans finding out about Ironhide and Chromia's sparkling may not be a good thing at all. Whatever happens, they will protect her with everything they have.

**Faecat**: Yup! I knew you'd like the deleted memories part! And I may have a surprise or two left somewhere *wink* I'm glad you liked Ratchet's flashback. I love the dynamic of those two...heartbreaking yet sweet is a good way to describe them *smile* Things are about to get more complicated for Ratchet; he's about to get stretched a bit thin.

**jazzgirl84: **Yea, the bonds can be sad. I love writing about them because they encompass such a wide range of emotion. Hehe, glad you like Ratchet's 'lightbulb' moments. I'm trying to bring Optimus and Bumblebee closer, but they aren't cooperating. Both of them are full of such doubt. BB is so young in many ways and he feels he doesn't know what Ironhide and Chromia would think of him. Learning of them losing a sparkling and now them having another makes him confused of what his place with them is. His fears are unwarranted, but he doesn't know it yet. And Optimus deserves as much happiness as he can find, poor mech. As far as the little bond thing between OP and Nightfire: do you mean the sparkling or the Decepticon femme? ^^; He has a bond with the sparkling Nightfire because he incubated her near his spark. As far as the Decepticon Nightfire, you'll have to wait and see *smile* (I will give you a slight hint that may or may not be of any help: Optimus never had a bond with her, but Bumblebee did). Sorry for the longer wait on this next chapter than I first anticipated, but here it is! *hugs* Thank you!

**plenoptic**: BB is being a silly little bug here, indeed. He thinks bringing in Barricade will gain Chromia's love. He isn't thinking rationally at all. Thank you so much for the compliments! I am working on something original, but I need to prioritize it more. LOL on the response space. You leave long reviews! Thank you! *hugs* Ironhide doesn't realize Bumblebee is putting himself through these doubts. He ought to have gotten the hint by now, though. Optimus isn't as calm as he seems, but it will take someone with a bond to notice, as he is keeping it seriously internalized. He doesn't know for sure if she's gone because the distance has inhibited his ability to feel if she is even alive for so long. Ironhide was sure Chromia had died when her spark was shut out during terminal lock because they were both still on Cybertron. They were far away from each other, but they were still on the same planet. Oh goodness, I'm trying to get to the answers. It's a bit irritating to me that there is still so much more to get through too, LOL. An 'Impetus' is an impelling force, an impulse or something that incites, a stimulus. Bumblebee is acting on impulse and there are several other 'impetus' possibilities in this next chapter with Ironhide, Chromia, and even Optimus. Barricade could also be considered an 'impetus' by the end of this next chapter. Little Nightfire is going to bring joy to all of them *smile* Optimus will get his adorable moments. Ratchet wishes for a lot of things, but he has made his peace with Nightfire's fate. He is very happy to see Hide and Mia happy and expecting. I'm not sure I'm going to go very much into Barricade's past. He's very very lonely, which is why he's been getting closer to the Autobots, but he won't admit that. I'm glad that you like that I added him in, though. You'll love this next chapter (hopefully). As far as the deleted memories: I'll be explaining that soon *smile* As far as Nightfire carrying BB: she can't carry someone else's sparkling unless she had one of her own already, since the carrying hold doesn't form unless a bonded pair mates XDDDD Elita will perhaps have lots of questions on her own, or just be so happy to be reunited that BB's origins will no longer matter in light of everything else. I don't know how the story remains intriguing, but I'm ecstatic that you're still so engaged in it! Thank you! XDDD

**FunkyMonkey19**: They sure are! Things are about to heat up even more *wink* You'll find out whether you're wrong or not with this next chapter *smile* Thank you!

**Borath**: I hope you like Barricade's role here. He doesn't play a huge part, or maybe it is a big part, but he isn't in the story much after this...at least I don't think he will be. More actually, I won't be focusing on his past experiences, but something has happened to him that is very important (which is in this next chapter). There will be a really in-depth look at those missing bits of Ratchet's/Nightfire's memory (and the whole story behind Optimus and Bumblebee). I also have the story of Optimus and Elita I'm trying to vector in. I'm going to take a little time after this chapter to get all that more straight (I have several notebooks full of notes and outlines and parts of future chapters that suddenly became jumbled at this point ^^;) Thank you!

**flamingmarsh**: Yes, Optimus does need to explain everything to Bee. Going after Barricade may not be a good idea, but maybe Bee unknowingly sets things in motion that will help Optimus out *wink*

**Anasazi Darkmoon**: Yea, it's an up and down ride for them all. As soon as they get good news, something else comes up. They all went through a lot through the long war. It will take some time to find peace and keep it. As far as Optimus tracking Barricade but not wanting to hurt him: Barricade is still a Cybertronian in Optimus's mind. There are so few of them left that Optimus is willing for any of them to redeem themselves if they want. He is tracking him to make sure he doesn't harm anyone and as long as he doesn't, Optimus is content to let him be. I hope I got that down more in this next chapter.

Thanks so much for adding me and my story to your:

**[Favorite Story]: AutobotJena, Metallikato, Quacked Lurker**

**[Story Alert]: DarkRains824, Hot Rod's Girl, Roxygirl87**

**[Favorite Author]: vfnfvne **

**CREDITS: (**At the end of the chapter this time so as not to give something away XDD)

I had no Internet access during Christmas, as both my parents' and my husband's parents' Internet was down. I just got back to DC, back to the land of lots of Internet access, so here's that chapter I promised for you guys!

**Bold print **is transmissions through bonds and/or comlinks.

Enjoy!

Night Fire

Impetus

Part II

Chapter 63

by Litahatchee

888

WASHINGTON COUNTY INTERSTATE AUTO AUCTION

Southwest's LARGEST Repossessed Automobile Auction

Repossessed, Impounded, and Government-seized vehicles of all kinds

Retired and decommissioned police cars...

888

Bumblebee sat facing the sign in his alt mode. He was at the right place. Under the cover of darkness of the night sky, he looked out across the darkened lot.

According to the datapad, Barricade had been hiding out as dilapidated and over-used police cars that no one in their right mind would want to buy. He always scanned the worst jalopies he could find, preferably ones that had been wrecked.

People weren't allowed to test drive cars at these sort of auctions, so a purchase was based on sight alone. If he was the worst looking, most warn out, most wrecked car out there, then he didn't have to worry about being bought. If someone did buy him, he easily got out of it by simply scanning another vehicle. If he felt that something might become too suspicious, he simply moved to another auction as another type of warn down police car. There were so many years and models to choose from, it was easy.

This was a great way for the Con to continue to hide out. No humans would think to look for him in a place like this and, quite frankly, Bumblebee never would have thought of it either. It was safe to say that none of his comrades would suspect Barricade would be hiding out here.

Optimus obviously knew, though. Bumblebee was starting to realize that Prime left out a lot of important information. However, he wasn't currently concerned about Optimus's reasoning for not informing them of what he knew about Barricade.

Bumblebee began scanning the cars in the lot, driving up slowly, trying to figure out which dilapidated car could be Barricade.

Bumblebee wanted to know what Barricade did to Chromia. He remembered her startled shock upon learning the Decepticon was on Earth. If he could trap Barricade for her, maybe she would forgive him for being related to Megatron. Maybe he could win over her spark.

Bumblebee paused, realizing he didn't really know how he was going to trap Barricade. He wasn't about to kill the mech; he just didn't want to. However, he doubted Barricade was going to happily agree to accompany him back to the Ark. Bumblebee didn't really have much of a plan here and it was beginning to sink in how much it was an impulsive decision to come here to begin with.

"I see that Optimus has sent, oh, how would those disgusting humans you protect say it?" Barricade's voice suddenly boomed out from across the car lot. His voice took on a sneering tone, "I see that Optimus has sent his _lap_ dog to _sniff_ me out."

The voice came from a 1988 Dodge Diplomat Salon. It was a sled of a car, a jalopy to the fullest. If Bumblebee wasn't so insulted, he would have laughed.

Instead of being amused, though, Bumblebee was mad, angered by the insult to the humans and to himself. As Barricade transformed, Bumblebee charged him, his sudden anger and frustrations severely clouding his judgement.

Barricade sneered at the charging Autobot. The dumb youngling played right into his taunt, but Barricade wasn't strong enough for an extensive fight. He'd have to take him down fast.

The first thing Barricade noticed was that Bumblebee didn't bring out his weapon. Barricade himself didn't have enough energon in his system to even form one plasma bolt, so he didn't bother with his own weapons either. Even bringing out his blades would have been pointless at that moment. By his next thought, Bumblebee was upon him.

Bumblebee rammed head on into Barricade's form, intending to tackle the Decepticon to the ground.

Barricade stood his ground, taking the hit but then twisting around to the side, using Bumblebee's momentum against him. He grabbed the sides of Bumblebee's shoulders with the intent to throw the bot to the ground, but Bumblebee also had a firm grip on him.

They both went down. Fortunately for Barricade, however, he fell on top of Bumblebee.

Not giving Bumblebee an astrosecond to clear his mind of what just happened, Barricade unsubspaced his whirling blades. _Now_ was the right time to expend the energy to use them.

He brought the blades down in a swift motion, cutting Bumblebee's helm. The sound was deafening and if anyone were around to witness it, they would have thought it sounded like a saw cutting through metal.

Sparks flew everywhere.

Sobered by the pain and the situation, Bumblebee threw a punch that made its mark on Barricade's faceplates. He then quickly unsubspaced his plasma canon and took an aimless shot. He didn't really need to aim in such close proximity, but the shot didn't hit the mech point blank either.

It went over Barricade's right shoulder, but grazed him enough that he pulled back and snarled in pain.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Bumblebee punched Barricade in the face again. The Con listed slightly to the side and then Bumblebee bucked his body upwards, throwing the mech off.

Barricade landed on his injured shoulder and was quickly shoved onto his back as Bumblebee jumped on top of him. Bumblebee hauled his fist back for another punch...

...and suddenly found himself being pulled through the air away from Barricade and unceremoniously dumped on his aft.

What the frag? How did Barricade do that?

"That's quite enough!" Optimus's voice suddenly boomed through the night.

Ah, now Bumblebee understood what happened. Optimus obviously grabbed him and pulled him off of Barricade. His next thought was wondering how the frag Optimus knew he was there and wondering why Optimus was there too.

Barricade recovered quickly, bringing himself up to his full height. He knew better than to try and take on a mech as big as Prime, but he could take whatever was coming with dignity.

Bumblebee stood up as well, wiping energon from his face as it leaked down from the cut above his ridge-plating.

Optimus looked at each of them in turn, standing between them. Barricade looked seriously energy deprived and he had a scorch mark on his shoulder where Bumblebee nicked him, but it didn't look near as bad as his deprivation. The mech hardly looked like he could stand on his own power, but he stood tall anyway, appearing proud and prepared for anything, no matter what it was.

Bumblebee had a deep gash above his optical ridges. That would need to be attended to as soon as possible. Optimus had no idea what the young bot was thinking, but he'd have to address that later.

"What do you want, Prime?" Barricade intoned darkly. "Come to finally kill me?"

"No," Optimus started...

"I'm not an idiot," Barricade interrupted before Prime could say anything else. "The humans have been calling for my death for years. Or maybe you're here to capture me. They probably want a subject they can experiment on without having whatever serves as a guilty conscience for them. Is that why you're here? To turn me over to them for experimentation?"

Air sighed from Optimus's vents, "It was not my intention to be here at all."

Optimus then looked pointedly at Bumblebee, who at least looked guilty, though Barricade missed the exchange.

"Ha!" Barricade continued. "Like I would believe that you would simply leave me alone all this time." He staggered a little bit, clearly in a far more weakened state than he'd exhibited towards Bumblebee.

"I have, haven't I?" Optimus said rhetorically, indicating to Barricade that he had known where he was and had, indeed, left him alone.

Barricade sagged a little, but still managed to look as intimidating as possible. Optimus watched him a moment and then reached into his subspace.

Barricade took a step back, preparing for the worst. However, instead of pulling out a gun or some other means to kill him with, Optimus pulled out a small cube of energon.

Barricade's optics widened at the sight of the shimmering cube of liquid. He had been living off of gasoline and whatever other fuel he could steal from the humans, but it was grossly substandard stuff, not to mention gross period. He was virtually starving. The prospects of having just one small cube of energon seemed too good to be true. When Optimus handed it to him, he stared at the Autobot leader in disbelief.

"Optimus?" Bumblebee protested. "What are you..."

"Stand down, Bumblebee," Optimus interrupted in that tone that demanded no further questioning.

Barricade didn't take his optics off of the Prime as he quickly downed the precious sustenance. Prime looked too...kindly, and it was throwing him off.

"Where are the others?" Optimus asked Barricade, not at all demanding.

Barricade wasn't sure what to think. He wished Optimus was being demanding instead of nice. However, he also figured right then and there that Prime gave him what he obviously desperately needed only because he wanted something in return. At that moment, however, Barricade was too weak to care, so he answered honestly.

"Hrmph, dead for all I care," Barricade said. "Starscream left. I thought he'd return for me, but he hasn't. They left me to rot on this stinking dirtball world with the human filth you somehow found so worthwhile to save."

Bumblebee started forward at the insult and all it took to stop him was a pointed glare from Optimus.

"We have more energon on our ship," Optimus said. "You may return with us..."

Optimus began extending the start of an offer that Barricade found insulting. An insult for an insult, the Decepticon figured.

"And be your prisoner?" Barricade sneered. "I think I'll take my chances with the puny humans. You think you can give me a cube of energon and expect me to just follow you back to your ship?"

Instead of giving Barricade an answer, Optimus just stood there patiently. Barricade was weak and Optimus could see it. If the diminutive Decepticon wanted to live, he didn't have many choices.

Barricade paused, looking around the dark car lot and thinking on his options. "You said you have more?"

Optimus merely nodded his head, waiting for the Decepticon's decision. He didn't give him an alternative, but the alternative would have been that Optimus would simply take him by force. Decepticon or not, he wasn't about to let the mech starve himself to death. Now that Optimus could actually see the condition he was in, he took it upon himself to do something about it. He was still Prime of their kind, even if they were on opposite sides.

Optimus also noted that Bumblebee seemed satisfied that they were taking Barricade back to the Ark. However, he didn't know what Bumblebee's motives were.

"What's the catch?" Barricade asked warily.

"There is no catch," Optimus answered. "You will stay in the brig, but you can have as much energon as you need."

Optimus hoped that, eventually, Barricade wouldn't have to stay in the brig. His hope was that they could all live as Cybertronians again and move forward as one. As far as the energon, there were only six of their kind on this world and the Ark was fully stocked. It would eventually run out, but they'd find a way to produce more before that happened; they always did.

"Right now, I just want to save every Cybertronian that I can," Optimus said. "There are so few of us left."

Bumblebee hung his head in guilt and shame. He wasn't there to kill the Decepticon, but his intentions weren't that honorable either, even if winning the spark of Chromia was the most honorable thing he could hope for. However, he was glad Barricade was still going to end up back at the Ark. That was still gift enough for Chromia in his optics.

Barricade shunted air from his vents in disgust of the Autobot do-gooder ways. "And whose fault is that? If you would have surrendered a long time ago, this endless war could have been prevented."

At that ultimate insult, Bumblebee charged at the Con in anger. Optimus jumped in his path and pushed him out of the way.

"Return to the Ark immediately, Bumblebee!" Optimus demanded. "Report to Ratchet and then report back to _me_."

Bumblebee bowed his head again, guilty as ever. He briefly looked up at Barricade, who glared at him with unconstrained hatred before Bumblebee transformed and moved out at Optimus's bidding.

Optimus comm-ed Ratchet, **"Ratchet, Bumblebee is incoming with an injury to his helm. When you are done with him, bring a med kit and some energon to the brig."**

Barricade was not injured enough to need to go to the med bay and the energon would help him on his way to gaining good health again. He didn't need to be in the med bay for that, though Optimus was sure Ratchet would give him a complete check up to make sure there wasn't something that needed fixing. He would leave that part up to Ratchet. For now, he just wanted to make sure Barricade would remain a good mech and not cause any trouble.

Optimus turned back to Barricade. "There are many ways that this war could have been prevented, but it is what it is, Barricade. All we can do now is move forward."

888888888888888

Ratchet was checking up on the very happy and sated-looking Ironhide and Chromia when Bumblebee entered the med bay. As soon as Chromia saw the deep gash and energon dripping down Bumblebee's face, her femme-youngling protective programming kicked in with a vengeance. She jumped off of the berth she was sharing with Ironhide and ran right over to him.

"Primus, what happened?" she asked worriedly as Ratchet began cleaning off the energon to see how bad the cut was, which turned out not to be as bad as it looked.

Chromia felt Bumblebee's spark soar with happiness that she was worried about him. Something about that felt odd. Wouldn't he know that she would, of course, be worried about him? She loved him.

Ironhide came up behind her and Bumblebee strangely withdrew from the bond.

Bumblebee hesitated. "Well, I kinda went after...I sorta went looking for...I, um, got in a fight...and, well, Barricade got me good." He smiled sheepishly with the final revelation, stuttering through a half-explanation because he had no idea how to say what he did.

Ratchet slapped the back of the youngling's helm with his hand, "What were you thinking?"

Chromia's energon froze upon hearing Barricade's name. She felt Ironhide's puzzlement in their bond, but the last thing on her mind at that moment was an explanation to him about Barricade's role at Floatilla.

"Where is Barricade now?" Chromia asked calmly.

Bumblebee seemed more than eager to tell her. "Optimus is taking him to the brig."

Without another word and seemingly serene on the surface, Chromia walked out of the med bay. However, there was murder in her spark and Ironhide felt it like a knife.

888

Barricade stood silently by as Optimus typed in the access code to one of the cells in the brig. So far, he didn't bother trying to attack the Autobot leader. He was so weak that Prime didn't even bind his hands. He figured he might as well not betray that trust. The prospect of having as much energon as he could consume was a huge motivator. He felt like he had just struck high-grade and he wasn't about to ruin it for himself.

Optimus had barely turned back towards Barricade when a dusky, light blue, blur streaked passed him, running straight at Barricade. He heard the sounds of transformation and then several plasma shots were fired.

Barricade fell to the ground as several well-placed plasma shots hit him in his legs. He was writhing on the ground in pain when the last femme he ever wanted to see again in the multi-verse was upon him. She snarled unintelligibly, her fists suddenly pounding his face.

Chromia's ferocity caught Optimus completely off guard. He could feel her spark through the bond he had developed with her sparkling. She meant to kill Barricade, but she wanted to make him suffer first. The absolute, unadulterated, abject hatred he felt pouring from the femme was staggering.

Chromia knew Optimus was there, but she didn't care. Damn the consequences. The repercussions were probably going to be swift and harsh, but Chromia didn't care at that moment. Barricade, the very Decepticon that recognized her at Floatilla, the very mech that delivered her right into Megatron's arms, was within her grasp and she wasn't going to stand for him living another moment.

Optimus quickly snapped out of the knife-sharp vengeance cutting through the new bond. The newspark did not seem to be reacting to it. It was almost as if the sparkling had gone into a sort of dormant, recharge-like state when Chromia began fighting, a defense mechanism to keep it safe from extreme emotions its creators could be prone to.

Optimus stepped in to pull Chromia away from Barricade when a large black blur raced passed him, Ironhide having arrived and beating him to it.

"Chromia, stop!" Ironhide yelled as he tried to grab her away.

Ironhide didn't give a frag about Barricade, but Chromia's emotions were intense and he was very concerned for the sparkling, even though little Nightfire didn't seem to be harmed in the least. He then appealed to Chromia through their bond, **"What's wrong? What's going on? Think of the sparkling!"**

At that, Chromia allowed Ironhide to pull her away and Barricade just remained on the ground, several groans escaping him that sounded halfway between pain and relief.

Now that Ironhide had her in his arms, he pulled her against his chest in a vice grip, not intending to let her go no matter how much she might start kicking to get back at the unlucky Decepticon. Optimus gave him a grateful glance and Ironhide nodded at him that he had things under control.

Since Chromia could no longer throw physical punches, she started yelling, "It was your fault! Megatron never would have known I was there!"

The sudden saddened pain in Chromia's spark, the void from their lost sparkling flaring out, causing the newspark to stir slightly, overwhelmed Ironhide as the words she had just spoken sank into his CPU...

It was Barricade's fault? Megatron never would have known Chromia was there if it weren't for Barricade?

Megatron never would have known Chromia was in the Floatilla plaza if it weren't for Barricade...

The truth hit Ironhide like a plasma canon.

Ironhide's own fiery vengeance flared to life. He had no idea that Barricade had even been at Floatilla, but now he knew that the mech had something to do with Sunshadow's death.

Ironhide released Chromia and was upon the Decepticon in an astrosecond. He vaguely heard Optimus yelling for him to stand down. He only had one thought on his mind; he was going to rip Barricade's spark out. He felt someone strong trying to pull him back as red and blue painted arms came around him from behind, wrapping under his arms, the hands coming around the back of his neck, trying to wrench him free of Barricade's prone form.

It was not enough, as Ironhide still managed to rip open the mech's chesplating in his rage. He looked down at Barricade's exposed spark chamber, intent to watch the Con's spark as he crushed it between his fingers...

Ironhide paused when he saw it, his surprise and another's permeating throughout the bond...

It was a carrying hold...

Barricade had a carrying hold. The Decepticon that recognized his sparkmate at the plaza at Floatilla, which ultimately led to the death of his sparkling, had a carrying hold.

His rage newly fueled by the thought of his sparkling's death, Ironhide didn't hesitate any longer and went for the mech's exposed spark. Wherever Barricade's sparkling was, it was irrelevant when compared to Ironhide's own loss.

Suddenly, in less than a blink of an optic, Ironhide felt the presence of the other in his spark. He recognized it immediately...

It was the one with the flame of hope.

It dove in so strongly, the strength behind it so overpowering, stirring a compulsion driven by an immense impulse for Ironhide to stop his actions, that Ironhide complied, standing down and just staring at the frightened Con.

At that moment, Ironhide realized who had a grip on him, who was just as surprised as he was to find that Barricade had a carrying hold, who held onto that flame of hope as readily as if it were life itself, who just appealed to his spark as if the other was an extension of himself...

It was Optimus.

Ironhide looked at him, truly seeing him for the first time. He could feel Optimus Prime's spark. It was...tremendous, along with everything he had felt before he knew who this other in their bond was.

This had to be a result of Optimus having incubated his sparkling. Ratchet said that a bond could form between the sparkling and Optimus, but Ironhide didn't realize that he would be able to feel Optimus too. He just didn't think about that.

He looked over at Chromia, who had her hands over her spark, obviously getting the same impressions from Optimus that he was.

Ironhide looked at Barricade and he felt Optimus's spark flare in concern of what Ironhide's next action would be against the Decepticon, but he was ready to stop it, whatever it would be. He sent another impulse to Ironhide to not act, to just move away.

Ironhide's optics widened in surprise of Optimus's capability to manipulate his spark through this new bond. He shouldn't have been surprised, because it wasn't anything someone with a spark bond with another couldn't do already. However, the fact that it was coming from Optimus, that it was so new and strange and powerful, was astounding to him.

Ironhide moved back and Optimus let go of him as he stood up. That hope that Optimus clinged to flowed through the bond. Optimus wanted Barricade to live. He may have done many awful things, but they all had. Any Cybertronian that Optimus could keep alive added fuel to his flame of hope, adding hope that their kind could be saved, from themselves, from their past actions and, ultimately, from extinction.

In addition to his hope to keep Barricade, another Cybertronian, a Cybertronian who was obviously bonded and had a sparkling somewhere, alive, Ironhide felt Optimus's anger. He was reminded of the vengeance of his two trigger-happy warriors and he was angered by it. Ironhide could feel his immediate forgiveness, but he was no less angry at the impulsive decisions of his Autobots.

"Please leave," Optimus intoned, the authority behind his voice giving no doubt that it wasn't a request.

Ironhide and Chromia complied, leaving the brig and heading back to the med bay. They wordlessly walked passed Bumblebee and Ratchet, who had obviously come to see what the commotion was about.

Bumblebee watched them go. He didn't exactly know what Chromia would do with her 'gift' when he was on the Ark, but he hadn't expected _that_. He almost felt bad for Barricade, but the thing that concerned him the most was the hatred Ironhide and Chromia exhibited through their sparks just moments before. If they had such intense feelings against someone that helped lead to their sparkling's death, then how did they really feel about someone related to the one that dealt the killing blow? Bumblebee didn't want that hatred to be turned towards him.

Ratchet pushed passed Bumblebee to attend to Barricade, focusing on the injuries to his legs.

"We need to get him to the med bay," Ratchet said.

Optimus nodded and then Bumblebee helped him and Ratchet carry the stricken mech.

Ratchet comm-ed Ironhide, **"I think it might be best if you two go to your quarters instead of the med bay for now. No thanks to you, I'm going to be busy for awhile."** A couple of astroseconds passed, and then Ratchet added, **"Don't neglect my prescriptions. Just because I have a new patient doesn't mean I can't find time to monitor you." **Ratchet didn't mention how worried he was about Ironhide and Chromia and their newspark, but he would get back to them as soon as this new emergency abated.

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Optimus stayed in the med bay as Ratchet worked on Barricade's injuries. The Decepticon remained online and didn't say a word the entire time. It appeared that he had been suffering from more than just deprivation of energon. His sparkmate was obviously nowhere nearby, so he was suffering from separation too. He was quiet, but he glanced in

Optimus's direction several times as if he wanted to say something.

Optimus used the opportunity to try talking to him about more personal things. He didn't expect the Decepticon to answer, but he tried anyway.

"Where is your sparkling?" Optimus asked.

Barricade said nothing for a moment and Optimus was beginning to think he had overstepped the boundaries.

"I left him with her," Barricade finally answered. "He should be halfway to adulthood by now." His voice was somewhere between pride and sadness.

Barricade didn't really know why he answered. Maybe it was something about Optimus's soothing voice and his undying compassion no matter if Barricade was an enemy or not. Barricade wasn't sure what he thought about that, but he was responsive to it.

"Where is your sparkmate?" Optimus asked next, not sure if he was pushing it or not, but he got a response to his first question, so maybe Barricade was in a talking mood.

Barricade hesitated again and turned his head away. He did what Decepticons were not allowed to do. He bonded. Not only did he bond, he created a sparkling. He was not about to go into how it all happened or the reasoning. He knew that Optimus wasn't asking that of him, but even speaking of his family could put them in danger in his faction. Though, that probably didn't matter now...

"I think she's dead," Barricade said. "I haven't been able to feel her in my spark for so long, but 7.5 orns ago...I felt the bond being ripped from me. All I have felt ever since is a...a..." Barricade stalled, unsure how to describe it.

Ratchet just stared at him, his spark breaking for the mech while he simultaneously wondered how this mech could have been involved in so much of the Decepticon atrocities.

"...Void," Optimus finished for him, his expression that of complete shock. "You said you felt her, um, 'death' 7.5 orns ago?"

"Yes," Barricade said. "7.5 orns, 6 joors.."

"...2.56 breems and 15.7 astroseconds ago," Optimus finished.

Barricade's optics widened, "How did you know that?"

Optimus felt the 'death' of his own sparkmate at exactly the same moment, right down to the same astrosecond, that Barricade felt the loss of his sparkmate. Whatever had happened with their mates, the two femmes were in it together.

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**AN** **CREDITS: **The name 'Nightfire' belongs to **lady tecuma **from her story **'Sparks and Plasma.' **I also want to credit **Faecat **for giving Barricade a carrying hold. She asked permission to use my idea and then did something with it that played perfectly into this chapter. You should go check out her story, **'Science and Fiction.'** It is so awesome!

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